The Weekend
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: Sharon, Andrea, and Patrice go out of town for a long weekend leaving Andy and Matthew home. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Here is the next installment. It takes place a couple of weeks after the events in Christmas Fire Part 2. They are in January and it's a new year! Please enjoy.

Chapter 1

"Mommy! Mommy!" Matthew cried out in his sleep as he tousled the sheets on his bed. The door opened and the light turned on as Andy stepped through to his room. "Hey buddy, it's okay," he said to him as he sat on the edge of Matthew's bed. He gently woke him from his dream. Matthew opened his eyes and saw Andy. "Dad," he sniffled as he sat up and hugged him.

"Hey, shh, it's okay, you're okay," Andy told him, rubbing his back to sooth him further from crying. Matthew took a deep breath and sat down next to Andy. "Want to tell me what your dream was about?" he asked him. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "I couldn't find Mom anywhere, I kept running and running but I couldn't find her," he confessed between sniffles.

"Oh, well, I've been there before," Andy sighed as he glanced at the clock in the room. It was 4:27 Saturday morning. He placed his arm around their youngest son and tried to console him. The team was not on call over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and therefor, Sharon, Andrea, and Patrice decided to go on a girl's weekend trip up to Napa. They had left Friday early evening and wouldn't be back till Monday late afternoon.

Andy sat on Matthew's bed as Moxie got up from his corner of the bed and walked over to where he was sitting with Matthew. Moxie sat down next to Andy and was staring at him. Andy glanced over and started to pet the dog. He turned to look at Matthew. "Are you okay now?" Andy asked him and Matthew nodded.

Andy started to stand up from the bed and Matthew scooted back to lay his head back down on the pillow. "How about we do something fun today, huh?" Andy told him and Matthew nodded his head. "Okay," he whispered as Andy tucked the covers back over him. "Alright buddy, Mom is okay she's just away with her friends for the weekend, so get some sleep," Andy winked and turned around, shutting the overhead light off and closed the door behind him.

Matthew grabbed a hold of his teddy bear and Moxie settled in next to Matthew. Matthew laid there staring up at the ceiling, and eventually fell back asleep.

Meanwhile, Andy walked back across the hall to their room. He scratched the back of his head as he stepped back in and climbed back into bed. He picked up his phone that was laying on the night stand and glanced at the last text message Sharon had sent him. They had arrived at the resort in Napa, had dinner, and she had sent him a good night text. He had replied to her telling her that he missed her, wished her a good time with the ladies and also told her not to worry about them, they would be fine.

It was too early to send her a message and what would he send her anyways? He placed his phone back on the night stand and turned to Sharon's side of the bed and went back to sleep.

Saturday morning came too fast for Andy and just as he thought he had closed his eyes after tucking Matthew back in, Matthew was patting his shoulder as he woke up. He rolled over to see him standing by his side. "Hey, what is it?" he groaned as he shifted and sat up. "Can we have pancakes for breakfast?" Matthew asked him.

Andy rubbed his eyes and looked at his phone to see what time it was. 6:48 was what his phone screen said as he placed his phone back on the night stand. "Sure kid, we can have pancakes," Andy tousled Matthew's hair as he stood in front of him. "Yes!" Matthew exclaimed and ran off into the hallway leaving Andy still trying to wake up, sitting on the bed.

He stood up and walked over to the bathroom, stretching his back along the way and went into his morning routine. When he came out of the bathroom, he walked over to his phone and sent Sharon a message before going back and getting dressed.

By the time Andy came downstairs, dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Matthew was feeding Moxie in the kitchen. Andy clasped his hands together. "Alright, are you ready for pancakes?" he asked Matthew as he went about the kitchen, pulling things that he would need in order to make breakfast.

Matthew smiled and placed the dog food container back in the mud room where he found it. He ran back into the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves, and washed his hands in the sink. Andy had all of the ingredients he needed out on the counter and was standing at the island with a mixing bowl.

"Okay, hand me three eggs from the container," he asked Matthew. Matthew grabbed the egg carton and brought it over to them at the island. He took out three eggs and handed them to Andy. "See, Matthew the idea is to crack the egg and not get any shell in the bowl," Andy told him as he cracked one of the eggs.

Andy cracked the second egg and turned to Matthew. "Want to try the last one?" he asked him. Matthew picked up the egg and hit it on the side of the bowl. It splattered into the bowl and one of the shells went with it. "Ooops!" Matthew looked at the shell. "Don't worry, that happens," Andy told him and removed the shell from the bowl.

Andy mixed all of the other ingredients into the bowl and placed the bowl in front of Matthew. "Do you think you can keep mixing this while I get the griddle ready?" he asked him and Matthew nodded with a smile.

"How many pancakes do you want?" Andy asked him as he placed the batter on the griddle on the stove. Matthew was sitting at the kitchen table. "Four," he stated as he looked up from one of his math worksheets. Andy chuckled at his response. "Okay," he mumbled as he flipped the two pancakes onto the other side.

Andy moved from the stove to the refrigerator and took out the container of fruit that was inside. Blueberries and strawberries already cut up by Sharon the other day. He took the container and placed it on the kitchen table. "Here, your mom would want you to eat some fruit with your pancakes," he winked as he looked at Matthew.

"I'm pretty sure she wants you to have some too," Matthew said as Andy returned to the stove. Andy picked up the spatula and pointed it at Matthew. "You're right," Andy smiled and returned to flipping the pancakes, making sure they were cooked on both sides.

After the pancakes were done cooking, Andy placed them on a plate and brought them to the table. "Okay, clear your homework, your pancakes are ready," he told Matthew. Matthew moved his homework to the other side of the table and grabbed two pancakes, placing them on his plate. He added some fruit and a lot of syrup.

Andy watched him take a few bites before he started working on his own pancakes on his dish. He added some fruit to his plate and started eating. "So, what do you want to do today?" Andy asked him as they ate breakfast. Matthew shrugged his shoulders as he continued to eat.

Meanwhile, in Napa, Sharon was just waking up as the sun's rays penetrated through the linen curtains from their luxury suite at the Meritage Resort and Spa. It was a spacious, 3-bedroom suite with a balcony overlooking the vineyard on site. She stretched her arms over her head and turned in bed to look at her phone that was charging on the night stand.

She unlocked her phone and saw that Andy had sent a message. She glanced at the time that he had sent it, and read his message. 'Matthew had a bad night, he's not the only one who misses you, enjoy your time there, I love you' with a heart and kissing emoji that followed. She smiled as she read his message and replied back to him.

'I miss you too, kisses to you and Matthew, love you' she wrote and sent it to him. She laid there for a couple of more minutes, just relishing in the relaxation, knowing that they weren't on call. It was a good feeling as she sat up and made her way to the connected bathroom.

After Sharon was done, she stepped outside her room into the small living room and saw Andrea and Patrice sitting down at the small kitchen table. "Good morning everyone," Sharon smiled as she joined them. "I took the liberty and ordered room service continental breakfast and this is what they brought," Andrea stated as Sharon looked over all of the food on the table.

"Oh wow, this is too much Andrea," Sharon insisted as she sat down at the table. "Ah, I figured we all deserve a little pampering here and there, since you know, you put up with your Major Crimes squad and Patrice puts up with Louie, and me, well, the day in and day out of the attorney's office is enough to put up with," Andrea told her and Patrice laughed.

"Plus, this gives us a chance to finally have some much-needed girl talk, you know without your husbands hovering around us," Andrea stated and then Sharon busted out laughing this time. "Oh, it has been a while hasn't it," Sharon nodded.

"So, what's on the agenda today?" Patrice asked Andrea. "Well, we can go take this tour of three wineries, and then I thought we would have lunch at the restaurant down the street, all the while we can take the free trolley, that way we won't have to worry about driving," Andrea told them.

"Hmm, sounds good. I'm just going to check in on Louie," Patrice stood up from the table and walked back towards her bedroom.

"So, how's Andy doing?" Andrea asked Sharon as Sharon was eating some fruit that the room service had brought. "He's doing okay. He had his check-up with his cardiologist after the holidays and everything is good with his heart," Sharon said. "Well, thank goodness for that," Andrea smiled.

"Yes, thank goodness is right," Sharon sighed. "His shoulder had been bothering him for a while, and finally I had told him to go see his orthopedic doctor, which he did, after we saw his cardiologist," Sharon continued. "Andy was joking about seeing two doctors in two days, and something about getting old," she chuckled.

"Hmm, and how are you doing?" Andrea asked her as they continued to sit at the kitchen table. "Oh, I'm fine Andrea," Sharon answered but Andrea looked at her skeptically. "I am, really," Sharon quipped back knowing that look.

"Your arm looks better," Andrea pointed to her arm, where the stitches were. You could barely see the scar there now and it was healing nicely. Sharon smiled and nodded. "Another reason for this getaway," Andrea said as Patrice came back into the room.

"I don't know about that man," Patrice chuckled as she sat down at the table to re-join them. "Oh? What did he do now?" Sharon asked. "Well, he said he was doing fine and was going to call Andy later on this morning. I heard noise in the background and I knew he was at his favorite restaurant, because I heard dishes clattering in the background. I asked him where he was and did you know he had the nerve to tell me he was at home?" Patrice told them.

"Doesn't he know who he's dealing with? I don't mind him going out to that restaurant, but I know he ordered double bacon, double sausage, and those runny eggs he used to eat before I placed him on a better diet," Patrice laughed as well as did Sharon and Andrea. "And then he stammers like I just caught him and he tried to back track!" she continued.

"Oh Patrice, I don't think they ever learn!" Sharon said and stood up from the table, moving dishes around. "Are we done with all this food?" she asked them and they both nodded and stood up to help clear off the table.

"Alright ladies, let's get ready to have some fun at these wineries!" Andrea said and they all started to get themselves ready to head out for the day.

Back at the Flynn house, Matthew was dressed and he was in the family room watching cartoons when Andy came into the room to join him. "Okay, have you thought about what you wanted to do today?" he asked him. Matthew turned down the TV. "How about bowling?" he suggested.

"Hmm, bowling, that could work. In fact, I know a great place where we can go," Andy told him as his cell phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw Provenza's name across the screen. "Oh geeze, we better have not caught a case," Andy muttered under his breath as he answered the phone.

"Do you need me to bail you out?" Andy said as he answered the phone. "What? Now why would you ask me that?" Provenza chimed back. "Because you're calling me on a Saturday morning and I know Patrice is away with Sharon and Andrea," Andy said back.

"Well, Flynn, for your information, I was just calling to see if you wanted to do something, since both of our wives are out of town," Provenza told him. "Well, funny you mention that because I was just talking to Matthew here and asked him if he wanted to do something fun and he suggested bowling," Andy told him.

"Is that Uncle Louie?" Matthew whispered and Andy nodded. "Ask him if he wants to come with us," Matthew asked and Andy nodded again.

"Bowling, why would he want to go bowling," Provenza grumbled back. "Because bowling is fun?" Andy told him. "He just told me to ask you if you wanted to join us," Andy relayed Matthew's message to Provenza.

"Hmm, well I guess so since I have nothing else to do," Provenza muttered. "Well, he will be very happy that you decided to come with," Andy looked at Matthew and Matthew smiled. "What time Flynn and where?" Provenza asked. Andy told him the details and they hung up.

"Alright, we got about an hour before we leave for bowling, why don't you do some of your homework besides watching cartoons," Andy suggested to Matthew. "Okay," Matthew mumbled as he turned the TV off and went towards the kitchen.

An hour later, Provenza showed up at the house wearing a Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants. Andy opened the front door. "Is that what you're wearing to bowl?" he asked as Provenza stepped inside. "What's wrong with this?" Provenza asked him. "Nothing if we were going to a luau," Andy snickered as he closed the door.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up Flynn, where's the kid?" Provenza looked around the hallway. "Matthew's in the kitchen doing his homework," Andy told him as he started to walk down the hallway. "What did you do to him? Sharon is out of town, you two should be partying, not doing homework!" Provenza scoffed as he entered the kitchen.

"Uncle Louie!" Matthew looked up and saw Provenza walk into the kitchen. "Hi Matthew, I hear you're doing homework," he told him. Matthew nodded. "Are you ready to have some real fun?" Provenza asked him. Andy rolled his eyes and shook his head as he grabbed his wallet from the kitchen counter and placed his keys in his pocket.

"Alright, make sure Moxie is good and we'll leave in five minutes," he turned to Matthew and Matthew ran outside with Moxie to the backyard. "Flynn, Flynn, Flynn, I'm disappointed in you," Provenza said as he looked around the kitchen. "What's the matter now?" Andy asked as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Nothing, I just thought while the cat's away, or should I say the Wicked Witch?" Provenza joked. "Hey! We haven't called her that in years, and just because you turn into a crazed bachelor whenever Patrice goes away, doesn't mean I do when Sharon's away," Andy informed him.

"Man are you whipped," Provenza chuckled as Matthew came back inside the house with Moxie. "Dad, he did his business," Matthew informed them. "Okay, great. Ready to go?" Andy asked and Matthew nodded. All three of them exited out the back door and headed towards the garage.

"I like your shirt Uncle Louie!" Matthew said as he ran ahead of them and entered the garage. "See at least someone in your family has good taste," Provenza grumbled as Andy unlocked the car and Matthew got in the back seat.

Andy shook his head as he walked around to the driver's side and got in, starting the car, and pulled the car down the driveway towards the street. "So, what's Rusty doing today?" Provenza asked. "Uh not sure, he told me he was busy all day doing something for school," Andy told him as he started driving down the street.

"What else are we going to do besides bowling?" Provenza asked as he looked at Andy. Andy didn't give him an answer. Provenza turned towards the back seat to ask Matthew the same question. Matthew shrugged his shoulders and Provenza turned in his seat. "This is going to be a long day," he grumbled as Andy drove them towards the bowling alley.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thank you everyone who has enjoyed this story so far, and for leaving your reviews. I really appreciate it!

Chapter 2

They pulled into the parking lot of the bowling alley and Provenza took a look around. "This place is crowded!" he complained. "It is a Saturday, what were you expecting?" Andy asked him as he pulled the car into a space and parked.

He didn't answer as he unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car. Matthew got out of the car as well and stood by Provenza as he waited for Andy to come around. "Come on!" Matthew said happily as he walked ahead of them.

"Why is your son so excited about bowling today?" Provenza asked Andy as they stepped inside the bowling alley. "He had a rough morning, I told him we would do something fun today since both Sharon and Emily are out of town," Andy explained to him.

"And, this gives him the chance to just hang out with his dad," Andy added as he came up to the counter where Matthew was waiting. Provenza looked around but he couldn't see any open lanes as Andy spoke to the guy at the counter.

"Okay, we got lane seven," Andy turned around and Matthew followed him while Provenza went to the snack bar. Andy turned around to see where he went and saw Provenza wave his hand, gesturing for him to go. Andy sighed and turned back towards Matthew.

"Why don't you go pick out a ball and I'll get the lane set up," he told Matthew as Matthew took off his jacket, placing it on the seat. Matthew went to the ball carrier behind them in search of a bowling ball that he liked.

Meanwhile, Provenza came up to the lane and placed his food down on the side table. "Did you not eat breakfast?" Andy asked as he saw him place down pretzel bites and a slice of pizza on the table. "I can't help it if I'm hungry!" Provenza quipped back as Andy handed him his bowling shoes.

"Oh, I'm not bowling Flynn," Provenza waved off the shoes and Andy shoved them back to him. "Yes, you are," he told him. "I don't bowl," Provenza stated. "Then why did you come with?" Andy asked. "For entertainment, it gets lonely when Patrice is out of town," Provenza told him. Andy shook his head and handed him the shoes. "Matthew wants to bowl with his Uncle Louie," he told him firmly as Matthew came back with a bowling ball.

Provenza looked at Matthew and sighed. "Fine," he muttered and starting taking his shoes off, placing the bowling shoes on his feet. Matthew looked at the food Provenza had brought over. "Can I have a pretzel bite?" he asked. "Sure Matthew," Provenza told him as he tied his left shoe.

Matthew popped a pretzel bite in his mouth and sat down next to Provenza. He reached over and grabbed his bowling shoes and started putting them on. "Alright, Matthew you're up first," Andy said as he came back with a bowling ball for himself and placed it on the rack.

Provenza glanced over at the rack and only noticed two bowling balls. "Flynn, you didn't get me a bowling ball while you were over there?" he asked him. "Nope," Andy told him as he watched Matthew bowl his first ball.

"Fine, I'll just use yours then," Provenza grumbled as Andy clapped at the pins Matthew knocked down. "Hey, good job buddy!" Andy said as Matthew came back from the bowling lane. Matthew looked up at his score on the overhead TV and saw 7 next to his name. "Your turn Uncle Louie!" Matthew smiled as he sat next to Andy.

Provenza stood up and mumbled something under his breath as he picked up the ball that Andy had brought over and walked to the bowling lane. "Why is Uncle Louie so grumpy here?" Matthew asked Andy as they watched Provenza bowl. "Oh, he misses his wife Patrice, that's all," Andy said as Provenza came back to the seats after hitting a strike.

"Wow Uncle Louie! You're like a professional," Matthew smiled and Provenza smiled at his assessment. "Why thank you Matthew," he told him as he took a seat and ate part of his pizza. Andy stood up as it was his turn to bowl.

"Come on Dad!" Matthew clapped as Andy walked towards the bowling lane after picking up his bowling ball. Andy took his time as he looked down the lane at the pins. Truth was he hadn't been bowling in such a long time, when he and Sharon were not-dating, and he took her after work one evening. He smiled at that memory.

"Let's go Flynn!" Provenza yelled out which brought Andy out of his memory and back to the task at hand. He shook his head and took a deep breath, releasing the ball and watched it travel down the lane, smashing into all of the pins, knocking them all down.

He turned and smiled at Matthew who was cheering. "Wow Dad!" Matthew said as he returned to his seat. Andy tousled Matthew's hair before Matthew stood up as it was now his turn again. "Since when are you so good at bowling?" Provenza muttered to Andy as they watched Matthew bowl.

"I've always been good at bowling," Andy replied as he watched the ball slowly roll down the lane and knock down some pins. "Huh, could have fooled me that one time we went out with those two girls we met at Dodger Stadium, seems to me back then you weren't good knocking those pins down," Provenza teased him and Andy gave him a look.

"That was a long time ago, I've gotten better since then, on a lot of things mind you," Andy told him as Matthew came back to his seat. "Can I have another pretzel bite?" he asked Provenza. "Sure Matthew," Provenza nodded and stood up for his turn to bowl.

Andy glanced at Matthew while Provenza bowled. "Are you having a good time?" he asked him. Matthew nodded. "Yes!" Matthew replied as Provenza came back to the seats. "Ha, a spare, beat that Flynn!" Provenza said and sat down. Andy shook his head as he stood up to get ready to bowl.

Meanwhile, back in Napa, Sharon, Andrea, and Patrice were having a good time of their own. They were sitting at an outdoor table, in relaxing chairs, tasting various wines, while an outdoor fireplace was on. "This was such a good idea, I'm glad you thought of this Andrea," Patrice told her as she took a sip from her Merlot.

"Cheers!" Andrea lifted her wine glass of Chardonnay. "To good wine and good friends!" Sharon said. Patrice lifted her glass and Sharon did the same with her glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. All taking a sip after saluting.

After Patrice took a sip of her wine, she couldn't help but start laughing. "What's so funny?" Andrea asked her as she took a sip of wine. "Oh, I was just thinking about Louie. He said he was going to call Andy and do something with him. I just can't help but think what trouble they are getting into," Patrice laughed as she sat back in her chair.

"Oh god, I don't even want to know. Did he ever tell you about the time when a dead body fell on top of Buzz's car when they were "serving" someone papers as a side job?" Sharon asked Patrice. "No, Louie never mentioned that one," Patrice answered. "Do tell," she encouraged Sharon.

"Well, from what Andy told me at that time, Louie was doing a side job of serving papers for an attorney friend of his, and had asked Andy if he wanted to help out, for some extra cash. Andy was a little skeptical at first and had told me about it. I had told him my reservations about it but he went ahead, because at that time, he needed some extra money," Sharon said, taking another sip of wine.

"Anyway, they are at some hotel and supposedly had just served a guy with papers, taking a picture of the actual serving, for evidence, and as they are downstairs where Buzz parked his car, the guy," she paused taking another sip. "Who they had just served comes crashing down on top of Buzz's car," she finished.

"Oh, my goodness," Patrice gasps as she sipped her wine. Andrea shook her head as she listened to this story. "Anyway, long story short, they had to investigate, find out why he was killed, turns out they got the wrong guy, finally got their pay from the serving portion and gave the money to Buzz, after some convincing, to fix his car," Sharon concluded the story.

"So, it wouldn't surprise me, if those two are together today, what trouble they are getting into. Although if you ask Andy, he always says it's Provenza's fault," Sharon laughed as she took another sip from her glass. "Louie blames Andy all the time as well," Patrice chimed in.

"However, if I know Andy, he's not going to get in trouble with Provenza because he has Matthew with him," Sharon concluded as the waiter brought out some shareable snacks for the table. "Well, hopefully Major Crimes hasn't caught a case yet, and your two husbands are getting along, and I'm thinking we just spend the afternoon here, trying their other wines," Andrea told them as she grabbed some snacks from the table.

Back at the bowling alley, they were in the sixth frame of the game and Matthew's score was 34, Provenza's was 78, and Andy's was 86. It was Matthew's turn again and he was having a good time, throwing the ball down the lane and having it ricochet against the bumpers as it went along and knocked down the pins.

"You know, I bet our wives are swapping stories about us right now. I know how Patrice gets when she drinks her wine and I'm sure Sharon is dishing all the details to her," Provenza told Andy as he ate the rest of the pizza slice from earlier.

"Would you just be happy that they were able to get away, and just relax? I know Sharon needed it, from everything that she's been through and then some," Andy stated as Matthew came back from the lane. "That was a good job, buddy," he told Matthew as he sat down next to him.

It was Provenza's turn and he stood up, walked over to pick up his ball, and then rolled the ball down the lane, striking down all the pins that were standing. "Ha ha! Another strike!" Provenza said as he walked back to the chairs. "You're really good Uncle Louie!" Matthew told him.

"Why thank you, Matthew," Provenza replied as he finished his drink. "Your turn Flynn," Provenza said as he gestured for Andy to get up from his chair. "I know it's my turn!" Andy replied and walked over to the ball return, picking up his bowling ball and standing at the lane.

Andy bowled another strike, making that two in a row for him. "Wow Dad! One more and you get a turkey!" Matthew exclaimed, being happy for Andy. "Alright kid, go bowl your best!" Provenza told Matthew as Andy gave him a high five before sitting back down next to Provenza.

Matthew placed his fingers in the bowling ball and walked over to the lane, getting ready to roll it, he moved his arm back and nothing happened. His fingers seemed to be stuck in the ball. Matthew started to push the ball down with his other hand but that didn't seem to work.

Andy was watching Matthew struggling with the ball and he stood up. "Oh no," he muttered as he walked over to join Matthew on the lane. Provenza looked up from his seat and was wondering what was going on.

"Matthew, you okay?" Andy asked as Matthew was still struggling with the ball. "My fingers are stuck!" Matthew started to panic. "Dad!" he said as Andy tried to help him. "Alright, calm down and let's take a look and see," Andy knelt down to examine what exactly was going on.

Andy tried to pull Matthew's fingers from the ball but Matthew winced in pain as he did so. "Sorry, maybe I can get better leverage if you sit down on the chair," Andy told him and walked over with him to the chairs.

"What's going on?" Provenza asked as they came back to sit down. "Matthew's fingers are stuck in the ball," Andy told him as Matthew had a seat. "Matthew, I want you to relax your hand for me," Andy told him and Matthew nodded. "Uh, okay Matthew, uh, let's focus on something nice and fun," Provenza suggested as he watched Andy try to free Matthew's fingers.

Andy worked diligently in freeing Matthew's fingers. He was able to get two fingers out but Matthew's thumb was still stuck. "Just think Matthew, you'll have a story to tell your friends at school tomorrow!" Provenza told him which made Matthew laugh a little bit.

"I think you're going to have to find a ball with bigger finger holes as soon as I free your thumb," Andy told him, gently pulling on his thumb to release it. Matthew's thumb was hurting him but the rest of his hand seemed okay to him.

"Let's go wash your hands in the bathroom," Andy suggested and Matthew nodded. They made their way down the hallway to the end where the restrooms were located. Matthew washed his hands in one of the sinks and noticed his thumb was starting to turn purple.

"Uh Dad?" he said and got Andy's attention. "What is it, bud?" Andy asked. Matthew showed his thumb to Andy. Andy grabbed some paper towels to dry his hand off and moved him under the light so he could see better. "Well, that doesn't look good," Andy muttered as he looked at Matthew's thumb.

"What if my thumb falls off?" Matthew asked as they walked back to where Provenza was sitting at their lane. "Your thumb is not going to fall off," Andy assured him as they approached Provenza. "Hey, all better now?" Provenza asked Matthew and Matthew showed him his thumb.

"Oh, that's not good," Provenza mumbled as he eyed Andy. "Yeah, I think we need to go to the emergency room and have that looked at," Andy suggested as Matthew took off his bowling shoes and Andy tied his shoes for him.

"Now wait a second here, just hold on," Provenza stated, protesting the early leave. "I'm sure his thumb is okay, it doesn't even hurt him," Provenza said. "Matthew does your finger hurt you?" Andy asked. "It does kind of throb a little bit," Matthew answered as Andy tied his left shoe for him.

Andy looked back at Provenza. "Fine, fine, but I'm going with you," he muttered to them and they returned the shoes to the counter before leaving.

"Dad, my hand really hurts now," Matthew said as he sat in the car while Andy drove them to Saint Leo's Hospital, it was the closest to where they were located in the city. "Hang on buddy, just a few more minutes and we'll be there," Andy informed him.

Matthew was cradling his hand by the time they got to the Emergency Room a few minutes later. All three of them walked into the waiting area and a nurse was at the desk as they approached.

"Hi, my son here injured his hand while he was bowling about a half hour ago," Andy explained to the nurse. She took a look at Matthew's hand, quickly making an assessment, and pulled out a quick ice pack from the desk drawer.

"Here, place this on your hand while your dad fills out some paperwork for you. A doctor will see you shortly," she informed them and handed a clipboard to Andy with paperwork. Matthew took the ice pack and went to sit down where Provenza was sitting in the waiting area.

Andy sat down next to Matthew and started filling out the paperwork for him. Listing his insurance information, he was able to fill out most of the forms when Provenza's phone rang. "Really?" he glanced over at Provenza as Provenza pulled out his phone from his pocket.

"Oh boy," Provenza mumbled as he saw Patrice was calling him. "What?" Andy asked him. "It's Patrice," Provenza looked at Andy before he answered his phone. "Don't tell her or Sharon where we are!" Andy instructed him. "Are you kidding me? I already went through that once, and I'm not doing that again," Provenza muttered as he answered his phone, walking out of the waiting area and back outside.

"Hello my sweet, how are you doing?" Provenza said as he stepped outside. "Oh, I'm doing okay, how are you holding up without me there?" Patrice asked him. "Oh, well, I miss you but I was with Andy and Matthew today. We went bowling, it was fun, a little bit," Provenza told her, making sure that what he said was technically the truth.

Just then an ambulance pulled up to the street with its sirens on as it pulled into the bay area to unload. "What is that noise? Are you at a hospital Louie?" Patrice asked him as she heard the sirens in the background.

"What? No, why would I be at a hospital?" Provenza chuckled as he started to move. "Don't you lie to me, Louie," Patrice told him. He just stood there silent as he listened to her over the phone. "Now, tell me what's going on? Is everything ok?" she asked.

"Everything is fine, sweetheart, Matthew just injured his hand while he was bowling and as a precaution, Andy wanted his hand looked at by a doctor," Provenza told her. "At the emergency room?" she asked. "It was closer," Provenza shrugged his shoulders. "Hmm, I don't know what's going on but if you're telling me Matthew is hurt, I think Sharon should know about this," Patrice informed him.

"Uh, wait! Wait, before you tell Sharon, I'll have Andy call her as soon as he can, okay?" Provenza compromised with her. "I got to go, but you're doing okay?" he asked her. "Yes, we are having a good time here," Patrice told him. "Okay, I love you, bye!" Provenza said and hung up his phone. Taking a deep breath, he walked back into the waiting area.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 3

Provenza walked back into the waiting area of the Emergency Room but didn't see Andy or Matthew sitting in the seats where he had left them before he answered his phone. "If you're looking for your friends the nurse took them in back," another person was sitting at the desk and informed him. "Oh, thank you," Provenza said and then had a seat.

"You can go back there too if you want," they told him. "Oh, uh, thank you," Provenza stood up and walked over to the door. "They're in exam room 3," they said and Provenza walked over to where number 3 was located.

He saw Andy sitting on a chair and Matthew sitting up on the bed in the exam room. "So, did you tell Patrice?" Andy asked him. "Well, yes and no," Provenza told him. "How is that?" Andy wondered how that could be. "She didn't ask where I was until she heard the ambulance pull into the bay, then she kind of knew we were at the Emergency Room," he told him.

Andy's head dropped as he looked at Matthew who was still holding the ice pack on his hand. "Sharon's going to kill me," Andy muttered. "No, she's not, but I was able to convince Patrice not to tell Sharon where we were," Provenza informed him. "Oh, and how did you do that?" Andy wondered.

"I told Patrice that you would call Sharon and inform her about what was going on," Provenza stammered before he told him. Andy groaned and then felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He took a deep breath before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He saw Sharon's name across the screen.

"So much for having Patrice not telling Sharon," Andy mumbled as his phone kept vibrating. "Aren't you going to answer that?" Provenza asked Andy as he stared at his phone. He didn't answer. "Look, Flynn, I think she should know, you know the wrath of her will last longer than this stay at the ER will," Provenza tried to reason with him.

Andy shook his head and answered his phone. "Hey babe, how are you doing?" Andy asked, hoping Sharon wouldn't bite his head off. "Oh, I'm doing okay. We are taking a little break here before dinner and I just thought I would call you to see how my boys were doing," she told him, which to Andy, meant that Patrice didn't tell her yet, or, she could be bluffing. All these things were going through Andy's mind as he went to answer her.

"Well, Matthew and I went bowling today and Provenza joined us," he told her. "Oh, that must have been fun for Matthew," she said. "Oh, yeah, I think he had fun," Andy said as he glanced at Matthew sitting on the bed still holding the ice pack to his hand.

"What's all that commotion I hear in the background?" Sharon asked him as the ER started to get busy with people. "Um, well, okay, look, before I tell you what happened, just know that both Matthew and myself are fine," Andy started to tell her and Sharon started to worry.

"What do you mean by that? Andrew Flynn, what are you not telling me?" Sharon said in her worried voice. "Well, while we were bowling, Matthew got his fingers stuck in the bowling ball he was using, and I managed to release his fingers once he relaxed. But his thumb started to turn purple after it was out and just as a precaution, I took him to the Emergency Room at St. Leo's," Andy told her and braced himself for a rebuttal.

"Excuse me?" Sharon said, knowing what she heard but wanting to hear where Andy was again. "You're where exactly?" she asked again when she was met with silence. "At St. Leo's ER waiting for a Doctor to look at Matthew's hand," Andy informed her again. "Oh my god, is Matthew okay?" Sharon asked, worried.

"His hand is fine, babe. Don't worry, I got this under control," he assured Sharon. "My baby is in the ER, with you and Provenza, after getting his fingers stuck in a bowling ball?" she asked him, wanting to make sure she knew everything that happened.

"Yes, now please don't worry yourself, here you can talk to him and ask him yourself," Andy told her and handed the phone to Matthew.

"Hi Mommy!" Matthew said, smiling into the phone. "Hi my sweet baby, what happened to your hand?" Sharon asked him, nicely. "I was bowling with Dad and Uncle Louie and the finger holes in the bowling ball I was using, I guess they were too small and my fingers got stuck," Matthew informed her.

"Oh, my poor baby," Sharon said, wishing she was there with him. "Daddy was able to get my fingers out but my thumb turned purple and he wanted to make sure I didn't break it or anything like that, although that would be cool if I did, Mom," Matthew told her and Sharon shook her head.

"Okay, is Daddy taking care of you?" Sharon asked him, knowing that he was in capable hands with Andy even though at first, she was worried. "Yes, don't worry Mom," Matthew informed her and handed the phone back to Andy.

"Sharon?" Andy said into the phone. "Is he fine?" Sharon asked him. "Yes, I don't think it's broken but that's why I took him here, just to make sure. Look the doctor is here now so I'm going to let you go. I'll let you know what happened after we are done here, okay?" he told her. "Yes, okay," she said. "Please take care of him, I love you," Sharon said. "I love you too," Andy told her and they both hung up their phones.

"Hello Matthew, I'm Doctor Douglas, I'm the kids' orthopedic doctor here. I heard you got your fingers stuck in a bowling ball this afternoon?" the doctor said as he walked inside the exam room. "Yes," was the only thing Matthew said.

"Okay, and who's the dad?" the doctor asked as he looked at Provenza and Andy. "I am, Andy Flynn," Andy raised his hand and the doctor nodded to him. "Nice to meet you," the doctor said and then focused on Matthew.

"Okay Matthew, let's remove that ice pack and see what we got," the doctor said as he sat on a stool and moved it closer to the bed so he could look at Matthew's hand a little better. Matthew's thumb was all bruised in purple colors.

"Okay," Doctor Douglas said as he took a look at Matthew's thumb, moving it slightly. "Does it hurt you?" he asked him and Matthew nodded. "On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being a tiny pain to 10 being the most pain you've ever had, what would you say it is?" the doctor asked, using kid dramatics to help ease Matthew's anxiety.

"Um, a 5?" Matthew answered as he glanced at Andy. "Okay, so tell me how did you get your fingers stuck?" the doctor asked him. "Well, I guess the ball I had chosen, the holes for where your fingers go in, they were a little small, but I didn't think anything of it until they got stuck inside," Matthew explained to the doctor.

"Hmm, okay. Let's go get an x-ray of your fingers and hand, that way it will tell me what's going on inside to see if anything may be broken. Looks like the ice helped keep the swelling down," the doctor stood up and nodded to Andy.

"Mr. Flynn, you can come with us of course, and you're?" the doctor said and asked Provenza. "I'm the kid's uncle, sort of. Don't worry doc, I can stay here, no problem," Provenza said as he looked around the ER.

Andy stood up from his seat. "Here, watch our stuff!" he told Provenza and Provenza waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah," he said and sat down on the chair as Andy left with Matthew to follow the doctor down the hall.

Matthew and Andy entered the x-ray room. Matthew was mesmerized by the size of the machine and kept looking at it as he walked inside. "Hey Matthew, my name is Robin and I'm going to be taking pictures of your hand for the doctor today," a technician came up to greet Matthew.

"Hi," Matthew mumbled as he sat down on the chair the technician had brought over. "Okay, what I need you to do is while you are sitting there, I need you to lean on this table, place your hand on top of this box like this," Robin said and showed him what she needed Matthew to do.

Matthew nodded and did what she told him to do, laying his hand on top of the box while she adjusted the camera overhead, shining the light on top of Matthew's hand. "Okay, perfect," she said and grabbed a lead apron behind her and brought it over to Matthew.

"I'm just going to slip this over your shoulders and have it lay across you like this," she told him as she placed the lead apron over him. Andy watched him as she was helping him get settled. Matthew looked over at him and Andy gave him a thumbs up for encouragement.

"Alright, and dad I'm going to need you to step over here with me behind this wall while I take some pictures," she told Andy and he followed her around the corner. Matthew kept staring at the light and the box that his hand was on top of.

"Okay Matthew, I'm going to take some pictures and then I'm going to come back and move your hand a different way," she told him and pressed a button on the control panel. Matthew heard several clicks and the technician came back into the room.

"Alright, you are doing so good, maybe your dad could spring for some ice cream after this is done," she suggested to Matthew as she moved his hand to another position. Matthew turned around to look at Andy. "Can we Dad?" he asked, momentarily forgetting about the throbbing pain in his hand. "Uh sure, we can stop somewhere on the way home," Andy told him, giving him a reassuring smile as the technician came back around the corner.

"Matthew, you're going to hear the same clicks in a couple of seconds, just getting everything lined up, okay," Robin told Matthew as he sat there, still as can be. He heard the clicks and Robin came back into the room.

"Alright, you are all set. You did very good and I got some nice pictures of your hand and thumb," Robin told him along with Andy as he came back into the room. "You can return to the exam room, the doctor needs to look over this and he will be with you shortly," Robin explained.

"Thank you," Andy said as he placed his hand on Matthew's shoulder as they walked out of the x-ray room and into the hallway to take them back to the exam room they were in. "What's in that room?" Matthew asked pointing to another room as they walked down the hall. Andy didn't have to glance up and look. "That's the cat-scan room," he told Matthew as they continued walking down the hall.

"What's a cat-scan?" Matthew asked. "Oh, well it's like a bigger x-ray that the doctors use to help see what's going on in your body," Andy explained to him as they rounded the corner and entered the exam room area.

"Have you ever had one?" Matthew asked as they entered the room. "Uh, yes I have," Andy answered and saw Provenza sleeping on his chair. Andy motioned for Matthew to be quiet. "I can hear you," Provenza quipped, opening his eyes and looking at the two of them.

"How was your x-ray?" Provenza asked, not moving from his seat so Andy had to stand. "Fine," Matthew answered. "What were you asking your dad here about when you stepped in?" Provenza asked him. "We passed the cat-scan room and he wanted to know if I ever had one before," Andy explained as Matthew climbed back up onto the bed.

"Oh, your dad has had a bunch of those, especially of his heart," Provenza muttered. "Why would you need an x-ray of your heart?" Matthew asked as he looked at Andy. "So that the doctor can see what your heart is doing, that's all, nothing to be concerned about," Andy reassured Matthew and then glared back at Provenza.

The doctor came back into the exam room. "Okay Matthew, I have some good news. I do not see any fractures or broken bones in your hand or fingers so no cast is needed," the doctor explained as he pulled up Matthew's x-rays on the computer screen in the room.

"That's great news Doctor," Andy chimed in as he looked at the x-ray. "So, that bruising is just from your thumb being stuck in the bowling ball. What I think happened was the force in which you placed your thumb in the ball caused a suction to occur to your skin, breaking tiny blood vessels underneath your skin," the doctor explained and saw the look on Matthew's face.

"Don't worry, it is all normal and will heal on its own in about a week or two, alright?" the doctor said and looked at Andy. "Any questions?" he asked him. Andy couldn't think of any off the top of his head but he was sure Sharon would be asking a million questions if she was here right now.

"Uh, what should he take for pain?" Andy asked. "Children's Tylenol or Children's Motrin would do the trick, every 4-6 hours," the doctor told him. "You can ice your thumb if you want to also, that could help as well," he added.

"Does he need it wrapped or anything like that?" Andy asked but the doctor shook his head no. "He doesn't need support for it, none of the growth plates in the hand or fingers were injured," the doctor told Andy. "Okay," Andy said and looked at Matthew.

"You'll have a good story to tell your friends when you return to school," the doctor told Matthew and Matthew smiled. "Anything else, gentlemen?" the doctor asked them. "What about physical activity like gym class?" Andy asked, thinking those were all the questions Sharon would want to know about.

"No restrictions, except I wouldn't pick a bowling ball with small holes anymore, okay?" the doctor joked. "And if you want, you could follow up with his pediatrician in a couple of days if the pain isn't going away or if it starts to swell," he added and Andy nodded.

"Alright Matthew it was nice to meet you, stay out of trouble okay?" the doctor waved at Matthew and left the room. Andy held the discharge papers in his hand and Provenza handed Matthew his jacket. "Okay, let's go home," Provenza said to them as they walked out of the ER.

"First we are going to stop for some ice cream!" Matthew told Provenza as he walked ahead of them to the car. "Ice cream, really Flynn?" Provenza looked at Andy as they walked. "What? The kid wants ice cream, what's wrong with ice cream?" Andy asked as he unlocked the car.

"There's nothing wrong with it. You don't eat ice cream!" he reminded Andy. "I know, but I'll find something else to eat there," Andy said and made sure Matthew was in the back seat before closing his door and starting the car.

Provenza slammed his door as he got inside the car. "Look, I'll drop you off at our house, you can get your car and go home if you want to pout about getting ice cream," Andy told him. "You don't want to eat ice cream Uncle Louie?" Matthew asked from the back seat.

"Oh, it's not that Matthew, ugh, no I'll go with you to eat ice cream," Provenza told him. "Yeah!" Matthew cheered as Andy started to drive. "Come on Provenza, today is supposed to be fun," Andy chimed in as Provenza looked out the window.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 4

"Fun? Going to the Emergency room is not a fun thing to do Flynn, actually with all of your trips to the ER, I'm sure you think that is fun," Provenza said as he sat at the ice cream parlor while Matthew was looking at the different flavors of ice cream.

"Would you calm down," Andy told him as Matthew turned around and pointed to the Superman flavor. Andy stood up from the chair and walked over to join Matthew. "Can I have it in a cup, with hot fudge and whip cream?" Matthew asked Andy. "Sure, why not!" Andy nodded.

"Hot fudge sundae with Superman ice cream for the kid, one scoop of lemon sorbet in a cup," Andy told the guy behind the counter. "And whatever he wants," Andy said and pointed to Provenza. "I'll have a waffle cone with rocky road ice cream, 2 scoops please," Provenza said and Andy rolled his eyes.

The cashier rang up the order and Andy pulled out his wallet as he began to pay. The guy handed Provenza his waffle cone and Provenza returned to the table they were sitting at. "I'll bring out the sundae, here is the sorbet," the guy told Andy and handed him the cup.

Matthew followed Andy and sat down at the table, waiting for his hot fudge sundae to come. Almost a few seconds later, the guy brought Matthew his hot fudge sundae, with whip cream piled high and a cherry on top of it. Matthew's eyes lit up as soon as it was placed in front of him. "Whoa, Matthew! Are you going to finish all that?" Provenza asked him.

"Of course, Uncle Louie!" Matthew giggled as he started digging into his sundae. Andy smiled as he watched Matthew eat his ice cream.

Meanwhile, back in Napa, Sharon was getting worried as they were all sitting at a table at a restaurant. "I'm sure everything is fine," Patrice told her, sensing her worries from across the table. "Andy told me that he would call me as soon as they were finished, why hasn't he called?" Sharon asked, as she looked at her phone.

It had been over an hour since she last spoke to Andy. She knew that some times the ER was a busy place and could take a long time to get through everything. "Sharon, I'm sure everything is okay," Andrea said, giving her a smile and Patrice did the same.

"I'm going to call him," Sharon stated as she held her phone. "Sharon, you need to relax!" Andrea told her. "Let Andy handle this, I'm sure he will call you when he gets the chance," she continued as Sharon looked at the two of them.

She glanced at her phone and back up at her friends. She would give Andy the opportunity to call her and let her know how everything went as she placed her phone back on the table. "Alright, if he doesn't call before we are done with dinner here, then I will call him," Sharon stated and they all nodded in agreement.

Back at the ice cream parlor, Andy and Provenza were finished with their treat and Matthew was still eating his ice cream. His face had hot fudge and whip cream on it but he was definitely enjoying the moment. "I can't believe you allowed him to have dessert first before dinner," Provenza murmured to Andy.

"Yeah, well, he doesn't seem to mind," Andy told Provenza as Matthew finished his ice cream. "Here, wipe your mouth," Andy handed Matthew a napkin but then decided to wipe his face and in turn Matthew laughed.

"Are you good?" Andy asked him and Matthew nodded. "Thanks Dad!" he told him and all three of them stood up from the table and left the ice cream place. The sun was starting to set in the sky as Andy drove them back to their house.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Andy asked Provenza as he pulled into the driveway. "I think I've had enough fun for one day!" Provenza chuckled as he stepped out of the car. "Matthew, it was fun. Sorry about your thumb, hopefully it will start to feel better once your dad gives you that pain medication," Provenza told Matthew.

"Bye Uncle Louie!" Matthew told him as he ran to the back of the house. "See the kid is fine," Provenza turned to Andy. "Okay, see you Tuesday then?" Andy said and Provenza gave him a thumbs up as he was walking towards his car. "Oh, shoot I never called Sharon back," Andy panicked as he stood there.

Provenza turned around and started laughing. "Oh boy, you are in the dog house now!" he told him. Andy glared at him. "Why didn't you remind me?" he asked Provenza. "Oh no, don't you blame this on me!" Provenza stated as he walked back towards Andy.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, just call her and tell her what the doctor said, say it took a while to get the x-ray done and she'll understand," Provenza told him and raised his eyebrows. "I'm going though, good luck!" Provenza said and walked away, heading back to his car.

Andy hung his head as he met Matthew at the back door. He unlocked the door and Matthew walked inside followed by him. "Let's get you some Children's Motrin for your thumb before we do anything else," Andy told him and Matthew had a seat at the kitchen table. Moxie came from the family room and wagged his tail as he encountered Matthew.

"Hi Moxie," Matthew said and petted the dog while Andy got the dosage cup ready for Matthew. He poured the orange liquid into the cup and grabbed a glass of water. "Here you go," he handed it to Matthew and he took it from him.

"I'm going to call your mom before I get into more trouble than I already am," Andy said and pulled out his phone.

Back in Napa and still no call from Andy, Sharon was livid as they were just finishing their dinner. Patrice pulled out her phone. "Let me call Louie and see what's going on there," she offered Sharon but Sharon shook her head no. Just then, her phone rang and she saw Andy was calling her. She showed everyone her phone and then answered it.

"Andy," Sharon said in a sweet voice. "Are you still in the ER?" she asked looking across the table at Patrice and Andrea who both were trying not to laugh. "Um, no Matthew and I are home now," Andy confessed, not sure how to take Sharon at this point.

Instead of Sharon lashing out at Andy for not calling her as soon as they were done at the ER, she decided to stay calm over the phone. "Is Matthew okay?" she asked him. "Yes, he's fine. Nothing's broken," Andy told her as he sat down at the table with Matthew. "I gave him Children's Motrin when we got back home," he told her, failing to mention that they had made an extra stop at the ice cream place before coming home.

"What did the doctor say?" she asked as she gestured to Patrice and Andrea that she was going to step out and speak to Andy on the phone. She stood up and started walking towards the door to step outside.

"The doctor said to keep an eye on it, if it gets any worse pain wise or starts to swell, to take Matthew to the pediatrician," Andy informed her as she walked out the door. "Look Sharon, I'm sorry I didn't call you when this whole thing happened," Andy told her.

"I just didn't want you to worry," he said as he ran a hand through his hair. She smiled into the phone as he said those words. She was still worried and mad at the same time. "Andy Flynn, I'm still mad that you didn't call me when you were taking Matthew to the hospital, but," Andy listened as Sharon spoke to him.

"But I know he is in good hands with you and you would take care of him any way you could," Sharon continued which made Andy's frown turn into a soft smile. "So, we're good then?" he asked her. "Oh, you're not out of the woods yet," she told him.

Andy sighed as he heard her, looking at Matthew sitting at the table across from him. "Do you want to talk to Matthew?" he asked her. "I would indeed," she smiled and Andy handed his phone to Matthew. "Matthew here, talk to mom," Andy told him as he grabbed the phone.

"Hi Mom!" he smiled into the phone. "Oh Matthew, how are you feeling?" she asked. "I feel okay, Daddy gave me some medicine after we got home," he told her. "Good, everything else okay?" she asked. "Yes, don't go hard on Dad, Mom," he told her and handed the phone back to Andy.

Andy chuckled as he took his phone back from Matthew. "How are you doing, sweetheart?" Andy asked Sharon when he got his phone back. "Oh, I'm doing fine here, just please behave yourselves. I don't want any more trips to the ER while I'm out of town," she told him and he nodded.

"Yes, of course dear. And if we do, I will definitely let you know beforehand," he chuckled and Sharon shook her head as she stood outside the restaurant. "Alright, I'll talk to you later tonight, okay?" Sharon told him. "Sure, bye sweetheart," Andy told her. "Bye, love you," Sharon said. "Love you too," Andy said and hung up his phone.

Sharon returned back to the table and sat down as Andrea and Patrice were looking over the dessert menu. "So, did you let Andy have it?" Patrice asked as Andrea laughed and took a sip of wine. "I was going to but then I changed my mind," Sharon said as she settled into her chair.

"Wait a minute here, you were livid before Andy called because he wasn't calling you to let you know how Matthew's trip to the ER was, and now you're all calm and collected?" Andrea said. "That Flynn charm won you over again, didn't it?" she added as Sharon sipped her wine and shrugged her shoulders.

"Hmm, girl you got it bad," Patrice laughed. "Oh, he knows he's in trouble," Sharon assured them as they continued to sit there. The waiter came by and asked if they were going to have dessert. "Oh, I think we will," Andrea said as she looked around the table.

Back at the Flynn house, Matthew was sitting on the couch watching TV, when Andy came into the room. "Uh, what did you want for dinner?" he asked him. "I don't know, my stomach kind of hurts," Matthew leaned back on the couch and looked up at Andy. Andy placed his hand on Matthew's forehead but he wasn't warm.

"Hmm, okay well we can hold off a little bit and see how you are," Andy said and sat down on the couch next to Matthew. "What are you watching?" Andy asked. "DuckTales," Matthew responded and sprawled out on the other end of the couch.

Meanwhile, Rusty came home from his day studying at the university library and let himself in the back door. "Andy!" he called out and was greeted by Moxie in the kitchen. "Hey Moxie," he said as he petted the dog. Andy heard Rusty in the kitchen and stood up, meeting him in the hallway between the kitchen and the dining room.

"Hey, how was studying or whatever it was that you were doing?" Andy asked him. "Oh, it was fine, you know," Rusty said, nothing great about studying for a midterm. Rusty looked around and Andy noticed his behavior. "What are you doing?" he questioned him. "Oh, just making sure you haven't burned down the house yet!" Rusty laughed as he entered the family room.

"You know, I am capable of being in charge while Sharon's out of town," Andy quipped back at Rusty, who was still chuckling as he sat down on the couch. "Hey Matthew, so what fun did you and Andy do today?" he asked him and Matthew sat up.

"We went bowling with Uncle Louie," Matthew started to tell him. "Oh wow, I'm sure that was fun," Rusty said sarcastically. "It was, even when my finger got stuck in the bowling ball too," Matthew told him. "Wait, what happened?" Rusty asked, doing a double take.

"My fingers got stuck in the bowling ball but Dad got them out," Matthew told him and showed him his purple, bruised thumb. "Whoa, did you break your thumb?" Rusty asked but Matthew shook his head. "The doctor took an x-ray and nothing is broken, just badly bruised," Andy chimed in and Rusty turned around.

"Wait, you went to the doctor?" Rusty asked Matthew, turning back around to him. "The Emergency Room," Matthew told him with a smile. "You went to the Emergency Room?" Rusty questioned and looked back to Andy. "Does Mom know?" he asked them. "Of course your Mom knows!" Andy told him.

"Wow, Matthew, does it hurt?" Rusty asked him. "A little bit but Dad is giving me Children's Motrin for it, that's what the doctor suggested," Matthew told him. "Oh, well, I hope your Dad took you somewhere after you left the hospital since I'm sure you were brave there," Rusty told Matthew.

"We went for ice cream!" Matthew smiled. "Ice cream! Wow, before dinner?" Rusty said and Matthew nodded. "Huh, does Mom know about that?" Rusty asked. "No, and she doesn't need to know about that either," Andy suggested looking at Rusty. "Hey, I'm not saying anything," Rusty said and put his hands up being innocent.

Back in Napa, after a lovely evening at dinner, Sharon, Andrea, and Patrice walked back to the hotel where they were staying. "Don't you just love looking up at the stars at night?" Patrice asked them as they walked down the sidewalk. "Andy has taken me to the Griffith Observatory numerous times to look at the stars," Sharon added as they walked.

As they walked into the resort, Sharon stopped at the little shop in the lobby and Patrice and Andrea followed her inside. "You said you wanted to watch a movie when we got back, can't do that without some popcorn!" Sharon held up the bag of already popped popcorn and showed it to Andrea.

"Oh yes, and some Sour Patch Kids!" Patrice laughed and grabbed a bag from the shelf. She turned around and looked at both Andrea and Sharon who were looking at her with skeptical eyes. "What?" Patrice asked. "I have a sweet tooth," she added.

The ladies brought their snacks up to the register and paid for them. "Before we start, I told Andy I would check in on them so I'll just be a few minutes," Sharon told them and retreated back into her room. She moved to the side of the bed and sat down, pulling her phone out to call him.

Andy, Rusty, and Matthew were sitting in the family room, watching _Return of the Jedi_ , when Andy's phone started to ring. He glanced at the phone and saw it was Sharon calling him. "Hey, turn down the TV a little, your mom is calling," he got up from off the couch as he grabbed his phone and walked towards the hallway so he could hear her better.

"Hi sweetheart," he smiled into the phone and she chuckled. "Hello handsome," she told him. "How's my baby doing?" she asked. "Oh, he's really lonely without you here," he said in a deep, low voice that made her blush. She shook her head at his response. Truth was she missed him too. "Awe, I miss you too," she told him.

"How's Matthew doing?" she asked as she glanced towards the door. "He's okay, we are all watching a movie here. I'm going to give him another dose of Children's Motrin as it has been about 4 hours since his last dose, before he goes to bed," Andy told her as he leaned up against the wall.

"What did you guys have for dinner?" she asked him as she ran her hand through her hair. "Pizza, that's what the boys wanted," Andy answered her. "Hmm, well I hope you eat something other than junk food all weekend long," she told him. "Yes, babe, I threw in some fruit and healthy things too throughout the day," Andy assured her, somewhat the truth.

"What do you have planned for tomorrow?" Sharon asked him. "Oh, well, not sure right now. Matthew said he wanted to take his drone up to the park and maybe take it for a flight," Andy told her. "Oh, that should be fun," she said. "Try not to injure anyone when doing that!" she added. "Yes, I'll make sure we are good," Andy said as Sharon chuckled.

"What are you girls doing tomorrow?" Andy asked her as she stood up from her bed and walked over to her suitcase. "Oh, well there's this local art gallery we are going to go visit and there's always shopping too," Sharon told him as she pulled out a pair of lounge pants and a sweatshirt.

"We are also going to watch a movie now, so I'm going to let you go," Sharon said in a sweet voice. "Hmm, okay, I miss you," Andy whispered sweetly over the phone. "I love you," she told him. "I love you too, have a good night," Andy responded and they hung up their phones.

Sharon got herself changed and walked out to the living area in the suite where Andrea had the movie ready to go, with the bowls of popcorn on the coffee table, a bowl of chocolate covered pretzels, and a bowl of the Sour Patch Kids. Patrice pressed play on the remote and they all sat back to enjoy _Love Actually_.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 5

Sunday morning was a different wake up for Andy than Saturday morning. He had woken up earlier that morning to both Matthew and Moxie curled up in his and Sharon's bed. 'At least he's sleeping' Andy thought to himself as he glanced at the clock and saw that it was not even 5 yet. He laid back down and fell back asleep himself.

The next time Andy woke up was to Moxie's face being inches away from his and the dog was panting. "Ugh, Moxie," he whispered as he tried to get the dog to move. He looked over and saw Matthew was still sleeping, a rarity, but figured the kid had a busy day yesterday.

Andy moved slightly and started to get up. Moxie moved with him and jumped off the bed. Andy ran his hand over his face, trying to shake the sleep from him. He glanced at the clock again, this time it was 8:45.

"Dad?" Matthew stretched his arms over his head as he woke up. "Hey bud, you can still sleep if you want to," Andy told him and watched Matthew nod, burying his head deeper into the pillow. Andy smiled and made his way out of the room, with Moxie following him.

Moxie ran down the stairs in front of Andy and ran towards the back door. "Alright, hang on a second," he told the dog as he made his way through the kitchen and to the back door. As Andy opened the back door, Moxie ran outside, into the yard and did his morning routine.

The sun was up and birds were chirping as Andy watched Moxie in the yard. The back door opened and startled Andy. He turned around and saw Rusty walking out. He was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

"Hey," Andy greeted him as he walked towards the garage. "Hey," Rusty nodded. "Did you fall asleep on the couch?" Andy wondered because he had taken Matthew upstairs late last night while Rusty was still watching a movie in the family room.

"Uh, yeah, that couch is somewhat comfortable," Rusty said and continued to make his way to his apartment on top of the garage. "If you want breakfast, stop by in a little while," Andy told him and Rusty waved his hand in acknowledgement as he climbed the stairs.

Moxie ran around the yard one more time before coming to stand in front of Andy and looked at him. "You ready for your breakfast?" Andy asked the dog and the dog got excited and ran to the back door and waited for Andy to let him back inside the house.

Meanwhile in Napa, Sharon, Patrice, and Andrea were all up and in the kitchen eating the room service that Andrea had ordered once again. "Hmm, so what time do you ladies want to leave today to go to that art gallery that we saw in town yesterday?" Patrice asked them.

"Oh, I don't know, what time do you think they're open?" Sharon asked as she sipped on her glass of orange juice. Andrea pulled out her phone and started looking it up. "According to Google, it opens at 11 o'clock today," she told them.

"And all those stores that we saw down the road open at 10," Andrea added as she placed her phone down on the table. "How about we aim for 10:30? We could either stop at the stores along the way there or on the way back?" Sharon suggested and asked them.

"Sounds good, I'm going to call Louie and then get myself ready," Patrice excused herself from the table and walked towards her room. "So, how was Matthew and Andy last night?" Andrea asked Sharon as the two of them sat at the table.

"I only spoke to Andy last night. He said Rusty was over and they were all watching a movie, having pizza, you know," Sharon told her as she sat back and relaxed in the chair. Andrea nodded and looked at her phone which alerted to a text message.

"Don't tell me work is calling?" Sharon said, not wanting to give up the nice weekend just yet. Andrea read the message. "Nope, not work. The spa here at the resort just texted to let me know we are all confirmed for tomorrow morning for our massages and facials," Andrea smiled.

In Patrice's room, she was speaking to Provenza over the phone. "How are you doing sweetie pie?" Provenza asked her as he was sitting at their house. "Oh, I'm good Louie. How are you doing?" she asked him. "Did you survive your day with Andy and Matthew?" she continued.

"Yes, after we left the hospital Andy took Matthew to get ice cream and then we went back to their house. I didn't stay for dinner. I don't know what they are doing today but I plan on having a relaxing day here," Provenza told her.

"Ice cream, did you have ice cream too?" Patrice asked in a teasing way. "Oh, uh, I may have had something small there," Provenza said, not telling the whole truth. "Louie, small to you is huge when it comes to ice cream," Patrice laughed. "Well, the kid did get his thumb stuck in a bowling ball after all and I couldn't just watch him eat ice cream all by himself, and plus, Flynn was buying," Provenza stammered.

"Oh, ho, you are so busted Louie Provenza," Patrice giggled as they continued their conversation.

Meanwhile, back home, Andy was in the kitchen making himself a pot of coffee. While it was brewing, he decided to text Sharon to see if she was awake. 'Hey beautiful, I miss waking up to you,' he texted her and then sent a picture of himself, all puppy dog eyed. He was hoping she would see his text message and possibly send a picture of herself back to him.

Except, Sharon didn't see that text as she was standing at the kitchen placing the dishes in the sink. Andrea was still sitting at the table, where Sharon's phone was located, and saw that her phone alerted to a text message from Andy.

"Oh Sharon, your lover boy has sent you a text with a picture," Andrea teased her as she walked back over to the kitchen table and her phone. She smiled and shook her head. "Me thinks he really misses you," Andrea teased again. Sharon waved her off as she looked at her phone and the message from Andy.

She opened the picture he sent and saw his cute, adorable face looking back at her. "Awe, look as his puppy dog eyes," Sharon showed Andrea his picture quickly and then started to reply back to him.

Meanwhile, Patrice walked back out of her room to get a drink from her water bottle. "What did I miss?" she asked Andrea as she saw Sharon was smiling goofy into her phone as she texted. "Andy texted her," Andrea stated as she got up from the table.

"Oh, we are all set for massages tomorrow morning at the spa here," Andrea told Patrice as she passed her heading towards the bedrooms. "Oh good, I can't wait to get these kinks out of my shoulders!" Patrice stated and then went back to her room to get ready for their day.

Sharon quickly texted Andy back and went to her room to get herself ready.

As Andy was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking his coffee, his phone alerted him to her text message. He opened the message and saw a picture of Sharon blowing him a kiss along with a message 'I'm hoping my boys behave themselves for the rest of the time I am out' and ended the message with a smile emoji.

Andy returned her message with a smile emoji and sent it to her as he heard little feet coming towards him. He turned around to see Matthew walking towards him, his hair all messy, and his thumb still bruised in a purplish tint.

"Hey buddy, are you ready for breakfast?" Andy asked him as he watched the kid walk towards the other side of the table and plopped himself down in the chair. Matthew nodded as he sat there, eyes looking very tired. "How's your thumb?" Andy asked as he stood up from the table and walked towards the coffee pot to pour himself another cup of coffee.

"It still hurts a little bit," Matthew shrugged his shoulders as he sat there. Moxie came back into the kitchen and sat down next to the boy, as he wanted to be petted. Andy moved over to the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. He wrapped it in a kitchen towel and brought it over to Matthew.

"Here, keep this on it for 10 minutes," he handed Matthew the ice pack and Matthew placed it on his thumb. "What would you like for breakfast this morning?" Andy asked him. Matthew again shrugged his shoulders and Andy sighed.

"How about French toast?" Andy suggested and Matthew's eyes lit up and he nodded his head in excitement. Andy smiled and went about the kitchen getting the ingredients and preparing the food.

Rusty had joined them for breakfast once he freshened up and changed his clothes. "What are you doing today?" Matthew asked Rusty as they sat at the kitchen table, eating the French toast with blueberries. "Oh, uh, I don't have any plans today," Rusty told him as he ate.

"Do you want to come with me and Daddy to the park so I can fly my drone?" Matthew asked him. Rusty looked at Andy and then back at Matthew. "Sure," Rusty told him. "Yeah!" Matthew stated and they all finished their breakfast.

Back in Napa, all three ladies were ready to venture out to go shopping and view the art gallery. "Hello ladies," the director of the art gallery greeted them as they walked inside the building. "Hello," Andrea said back to the director as she stepped further into the lobby area. Sharon and Patrice both smiled at the director. They paid the admission price and ventured off into the fine art gallery.

"Oh, look at this painting," Andrea stated as Sharon walked up next to her to see what she was looking at. It was a picture on a sunset over the ocean and the sky was painted in reds, oranges, and yellow hues. Patrice was across from them looking at a painting of sunflowers. None of them saw the man standing in the back eyeing the sculpture of a ballerina.

The man turned around to look at Sharon, Patrice, and Andrea laughing, having a good time as they went through the gallery. He had eyed that ballerina sculpture last week when he was scoping out the art gallery for his next heist. He had needed a distraction from him in order to swipe the sculpture and he thought the three of them would provide the perfect distraction.

Meanwhile, Andy, Rusty, Matthew, and Moxie piled out of the car and headed towards the open field at Griffith Park. Rusty was carrying three camp chairs while Matthew was carrying his drone in the carrying case. Andy held Moxie's leash and the cooler they had brought with them, as they found the perfect spot away from people.

"I think this is a good spot right here," Matthew stated as he placed the carrying case on the grass and started unzipping it, pulling out the drone and making sure all of the parts were connected. Rusty set up the three camp chairs as Andy placed the cooler down and set a blanket down for Moxie to lay on. He took out Moxie's water bowl and filled it up with a bottle of water before turning his attention to Matthew.

"Do you know how to do all that?" Andy asked Matthew as he watched him put together the drone. "Yeah Dad, Billy got one for his birthday last year," Matthew told him. "Oh, okay," Andy said and then took a seat. Andy looked around at the rest of the people that were there in the park. They were flying kites, playing frisbee, tossing the football around. The weather was perfect for a January day in LA.

Back at the art gallery, Patrice noticed the man looking at the three of them as they toured around the gallery. "Uh, Sharon, I think that man over there is acting suspicious," Patrice informed her in a non-alarming tone. Sharon glanced to where Patrice was referring to and saw the man in question.

She become weary of him and watched him as they moved to the next set of artworks in the gallery. Andrea wondered what had preoccupied Sharon and Patrice had told Andrea her suspicions of that man. "Oh, no, Sharon, we are here to enjoy art, not to do police work," Andrea whispered to Sharon as she kept watch on the man.

"I think Patrice may be on to something here with that man, he's acting very strangely and keeps eyeing that statue over there," Sharon told Andrea and pointed non-chalantly to the ballerina sculpture in the corner.

"There's cameras all over this place. Certainly, if he was going to swipe something, he's not going to do it during the middle of the day, with people around," Andrea tried to reason with Sharon. "Unless he wants a distraction," Patrice pointed out as she was trying not to make it obvious that she was watching the man. "Unless he wants a distraction," Andrea muttered, shaking her head and rolled her eyes as she went along with the other two.

"Okay, so if your suspicions are correct, what do you want to do about it? Really nothing we can do because he hasn't committed a crime!" Andrea told both of them. "Yet," Sharon chimed in and Andrea eyed her. "Andrea, just relax for a moment," Patrice told her. "I'm trying to relax, but I have a police commander on high alert that something is going to happen here in front of our eyes!" Andrea reasoned with them and Sharon giggled.

"Come on, let's move over here so it looks like we are looking at that sunflower painting again," Sharon pulled Andrea across the gallery with her and Patrice. The man watched them again, trying to figure out his next move.

Back in Griffith Park, Matthew was having a blast flying his drone in the open field. Rusty was reading a book he had brought. Andy glanced at both of them and then spoke to Rusty. "Hey, you might want to actually enjoy this nice weather we are having," he told him as Rusty looked up from his book.

"I am," Rusty said as he moved in his chair so that he was now sitting more upright than before. Andy shook his head and looked at Moxie who was laying down next to his chair. Moxie was watching everything that was going on around him.

Matthew brought his drone back to land in front of Andy, Rusty, and Moxie and walked back to join them. He sat down on a blanket that they had brought and opened the cooler, searching for something.

"What are you looking for?" Andy asked him. "Some fruit snacks, I know I put in here before we left," Matthew said as he dug through the cooler, finding them on the bottom and pulled them out. "Are you all done flying?" Andy asked and Matthew shook his head no. "Just taking a break," he told him. Andy leaned back into his chair and continued to people watch.

Back at the art gallery, the man had lost track of Sharon, Andrea, and Patrice so he decided to make his move because no one else was watching him. He walked over to the statue, moved his head from side to side as he looked at the statue, and in one swift move he threw a cloak over the statue and it disappeared from the table. The man dabbled in magic tricks and he made the biggest magic trick of his life.

He now had the statue with him, hidden under his coat and as he turned to head for the exit of the gallery, he was met by Andrea. "Don't you just love the art in here?" she told him as she tried to distract him from making his exit. "It's lovely yes," the man said in an accent and walked away from Andrea.

The man didn't know what happened next as he felt himself tripping over something and landing on the floor, with the statue popping out and rolling on the floor towards Sharon. "Oops! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," Patrice told him as she stood next to the door frame looking at him.

"My oh my, what do we have here?" Sharon said as she picked up the statue, still wrapped in a cloak, and stood there in front of the man who was still on the floor. "Place your hands behind your back, mister!" Patrice told the man and he complied.

Just then, the art gallery owner came into the room after hearing the commotion and looked at the man on the floor and the three women surrounding him. "What on Earth is going on here?" the gallery owner exclaimed as he looked at the statue that Sharon was still holding.

"I'm Commander Flynn of the LAPD, sir, I believe this man here tried stealing this statue," Sharon said as she handed the statue over to the art gallery owner. "Oh, my goodness," he said as he looked at the statue and then towards the man still on the floor.

"The local police department is on it's way," Andrea stated as she walked over to join them. The art gallery looked at the man on the ground. "Wait a minute!" he said and then pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "You're Reginald Felix, the art thief who's a magician!" he compared the picture on the paper to the man on the floor.

"Thank you, ladies, for stopping this crime!" the art gallery owner told them as they all stood over Mr. Felix. The Napa Police Department arrived on the scene five minutes later to take custody of Mr. Felix and they also needed the statue as evidence.

Sharon was speaking to one of the detectives on the scene as Mr. Felix was being led out in handcuffs by two officers. "Thank you, Commander, we received an alert from our counterparts up in Portland, Oregon about this guy, never thought he would actually come down here," the detective told her.

"Oh, well we're just happy to help!" Sharon told him and he turned around to go speak with the owner. Sharon walked towards Patrice and Andrea and smiled. "So, ladies, we stopped an art thief, what else do you want to do today?" Sharon laughed as they all left the art gallery and started to head towards the car.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 6

The rest of the afternoon went by without a hitch. Sharon had bought a nice purse at one of the shops they went to, while Andrea purchased some clothes and Patrice bought a nice painting of the Napa Valley. They came back to their hotel room to relax before venturing out to the hotel's restaurant for dinner.

Sharon went out on to the patio and pulled out her phone as she sat down on one of the chairs. She was calling Andy to see how their day was and to tell him about who they encountered while at the art gallery. The phone rang a couple of times before she heard Andy's voice on the other end.

"Hey sweetheart," Andy said as he answered his phone. "Hello," Sharon smiled at his greeting. "How's everything in Napa?" he asked her. "Oh, well there's one less crime being committed here," Sharon said but Andy didn't understand what she meant by that. "What?" he asked. Sharon could barely hear him all of a sudden.

"Andy, where are you? There's a lot of noise in the background," Sharon told him. Andy was walking Moxie on the beach while Matthew was flying his drone and Rusty was sitting on a chair. They had left Griffith Park about a half hour ago and decided to head towards the ocean. "Sorry, we're at the beach," he told her as he shifted the phone from one ear to the other and stopped by the chairs where Rusty was. He looked around and saw where Matthew was standing with his drone.

Moxie laid down on the towel as Andy sat down in the empty chair. "Now, what were you saying about a crime?" Andy asked her. Sharon shook her head. "I was saying that there's one less crime being committed here," she told him again. "Oh? Why do you say that?" he asked her as he was watching Matthew.

"Because, while we were out this morning, Andrea, Patrice, and I stopped an art thief," she told him as she smiled into the phone. "What? How did you do that?" Andy said, a little alarmed at the fact of what his wife just said to him.

"We were at an art gallery and Patrice noticed this guy who was acting suspicious. She pointing him out to me and I observed him for a while. We noticed he was eyeing a particular statue and when the moment was right, we caught him and stopped him from stealing the statue," Sharon told him an abbreviated version of what happened.

"Wow! Are you three okay?" Andy wondered as he leaned forward so that his elbows were on his knees now. "Everyone is fine," Sharon assured him as she ran her fingers through her hair. "How are my boys doing?" she asked him. "Well, wait a minute, what happened exactly?" Andy asked her and Rusty looked over at him as he said that. "Oh, Andy, it was really nothing. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow," Sharon told him. Andy huffed into the phone.

"Soo, how are my boys doing?" Sharon asked him again, trying to coax him back. "We're fine," Andy muttered but Sharon wasn't having any of his poutiness. "Andy," she said to him. "I just want to make sure you're okay," she heard him tell her. "I'm fine, I promise you," Sharon assured him. "Now, please tell me how you're doing," Sharon asked him for the last time.

"Oh, we're doing fine. Matthew is having a good time flying his drone, and Rusty is," Andy said as he looked at Rusty, who was reading another law book that he had brought with. "Rusty is currently reading a book," Andy finished quietly as he turned away from him. "We were at Griffith Park earlier today and Matthew wanted to go to the beach as well so we are here now," Andy told her as he noticed that Matthew sat down on the sand and he was tinkering with his drone in front of him.

"Oh, you did put sunscreen on him, right?" Sharon asked and Andy rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course I did," Andy said as he grabbed the bottle of sunscreen out of the bag and walked over to where Matthew was sitting. "Okay, well I'll let you go and I'll see you tomorrow!" Sharon told him. Andy stopped where he was so it didn't sound like he was shuffling. "Hmm, okay sweetheart. I love you, please watch yourselves there," Andy told her. "I love you too, Andy," Sharon told him. "Bye," they both told each other and hung up their phones.

"Matthew, your mother wants me to put some sunscreen on your face," Andy told the boy. He was wearing a sweatshirt and long pants so he didn't need it on his arms or legs. "Let me spray some on your hands and then rub it on your face," Andy told him. "I know, Mom does the same thing," Matthew said as he rubbed the sunscreen on his face.

"Is there something wrong with your drone?" Andy asked as he knelt down and looked at the toy. "No, I'm just tired of flying it," Matthew said as he looked at Andy. "Okay, well, come back over to where we are sitting," Andy said, pointing back to where Rusty and Moxie were located.

Matthew stood up with his drone in his hands and walked back over to where their belongings were. He pulled out the case for his drone and placed it back inside along with the remote control. Matthew then sat down on the towel where Moxie was laying and petted him while watching the waves crashing onto the shore.

Andy followed him and sat back down in his chair. "What do you feel like having for dinner tonight?" he asked the boys. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "Burgers," Rusty stated. Andy chuckled. "Well, we kind of had a lot of junk food yesterday so maybe we should have something on the healthier side tonight?" Andy suggested.

"Ugh, you sound just like Mom," Rusty groaned as he placed the book he was reading back inside his bag. "Ha ha," Andy sarcastically said to him. Andy thought about where they could go for a minute as they were all sitting there. "Okay, I got the perfect place. It has burgers for you Rusty, some healthier options as well, and it's dog friendly," Andy told them as he leaned forward in his chair.

Meanwhile, back in Napa, the ladies were getting ready to head out to the hotel's restaurant. "Are you ready?" Andrea asked as Sharon was just finishing up putting earrings in and Patrice was touching up her make-up. "Ready!" Sharon said as she grabbed her clutch purse and made her way to the door. Patrice hurried behind her and they left their room and headed towards the lobby.

They walked through the hotel and made their way to the restaurant on site. Andrea gave her name to the hostess and the three of them were led through the restaurant to a table next to a fireplace that was in the middle of the restaurant. They all sat down and looked through the menu as the hostess told them who their waiter was going to be.

Andrea looked up from her menu and saw the owner of the art gallery that they had visited earlier today walk in, gazing over the crowd like he was looking for somebody. "Oh, the art gallery owner from earlier today is here," she told them and both Sharon and Patrice turned around to look.

"Don't do that!" Andrea hissed at them as they turned back around in their seats. Andrea kept looking to see what the art gallery owner was doing. "Oh no, I think he saw us," Andrea whispered. "Why are you whispering?" Sharon asked her. "And he's coming over this way," Andrea added. "Oh, maybe he wants to say hi again," Patrice commented as the three ladies tried to look down at their menus.

"Ladies, I'm so glad I found the three of you here," the art gallery owner smiled at them and waved over the head maître d to their table. "Hello again," Sharon said as she placed her menu back down on the table. Patrice smiled at the man and so did Andrea.

"Ah, George, make sure you take care of these three ladies. These angels helped me tremendously earlier today at the art gallery and I will be paying for their dinner tonight," the art gallery owner said. "Not a problem, sir," George said to him and smiled at them.

"Oh, that's not necessary," Sharon interrupted the two men as they stood next to the table. "Please, I insist!" the art gallery owner stated and Sharon looked at both Patrice and Andrea. "Enjoy the evening ladies!" the art gallery owner then walked away from their table, leaving the three of them speechless.

"Excuse me, George, who exactly is that man?" Andrea asked the maître d. "Well, he's only the well-known art gallery director in the Napa area and he's also the owner of this hotel, restaurant, and winery," George informed them. "Can I get you ladies anything to start off with?" he asked.

"Oh, um," Sharon said as she looked at Andrea and Patrice. All three of them then looked at the wine list and ordered a glass of wine and some appetizers to start off with. George then left the ladies to talk. "So, we helped out not only the owner of the art gallery, but also the owner of where we are staying?" Andrea asked.

"How did he know we would be here?" Patrice wondered. "Yeah, how did he know?" Andrea wondered as well as they both looked at Sharon. "I didn't tell him anything on where we were staying," Sharon said as George brought three glasses of wine back to the table. "I only told the detective that I was a LAPD Commander," she added as she sipped her wine.

Meanwhile, Andy, Rusty, Matthew, and Moxie had arrived at the small restaurant along the ocean. There were picnic tables set up and Matthew took Moxie over to one of the tables while Andy and Rusty waited in line to order at the take-out window.

"Ah, Lieutenant, good to see you again," Diego, the owner of the restaurant said to Andy. "Hi Diego, how are you doing tonight?" Andy asked him. "Good, good," Diego said and looked around the area. "Where's the Commander?" Diego asked. "She's out of town. It's just me and the boys tonight," Andy gestured to Rusty and Matthew. "Oh, and the puppy," Diego smiled as he got a pad of paper out to take their order.

After giving their order, the two of them walked back to where Matthew and Moxie were sitting. "How often do you come here?" Rusty asked him. "Every once in a while, your mother and I will come out here," Andy said as he sat down next to Matthew. "She likes the view of the ocean and the food's not that bad either," Andy added and Rusty nodded.

About fifteen minutes later, Andy heard their name being called from the window and stood up from the table. He walked over to the window and picked up the tray of food. "Thank you, Diego," Andy said and walked back over to the table, carrying the tray. He set it down on the table and both Matthew and Rusty reached over for their burgers. Andy moved his salad from the tray and they all began to eat.

Diego came out a few minutes later with a bowl of fresh water. "Here you go, puppy," he said and placed the bowl down beside Moxie. "Enjoy everyone!" Diego said and walked back inside the building. Rusty watched Diego walk away and turned towards Andy. "He seems a little too friendly," Rusty said as he took a bite of his burger.

"That's just how he is, a friendly guy," Andy commented and Rusty shrugged his shoulders.

Back in Napa, Sharon, Andrea, and Patrice were having a great time talking over their dinner. They were discussing the incident at the art gallery, they were also talking about work. Andrea was talking about things that were going on in the DA's office, while Sharon was talking about the political triangle of the hierarchy of the LAPD. Patrice spoke about the worst cases she saw when she was a nurse.

They were laughing and enjoying the evening. Patrice cleared her throat. "Can you believe that owner called us his angels?" she said as she took a sip from her wine glass. "When did he do that?" Andrea asked. "When he came over earlier," Sharon added as she sipped from her wine glass. Andrea looked at the two of them and Patrice started to laugh.

"Well, I will say that I felt like a Charlie's Angel earlier today when we foiled that art thief!" Patrice told them. "So, if we are the angels, then who's Bosley?" Sharon asked in the fun. "Provenza," Andrea blurted out and they all started laughing again. "Oh, no. My husband may be a great detective but he's not a Bosley," Patrice laughed.

Another waiter came over to their table and asked if they wanted any dessert. "Um, not tonight, I think we are good, right ladies?" Sharon asked and they all nodded. "Yes, we are fine, thank you," Andrea smiled at the waiter as he walked away. "Andrea, are you flirting with that waiter?" Sharon asked as she watched her friend.

"What? No, I wasn't flirting. I was simply admiring him from afar," Andrea laughed and the rest of them laughed too. Yes, they were definitely enjoying their evening there.

Back along the coast, after Andy and the boys were done eating, they watched the sunset over the ocean and headed back home. Matthew fell asleep on the ride back to the house. Andy pulled into the garage and got out of the car. "Can you take Moxie into the house while I grab him?" he asked Rusty. "Sure," Rusty nodded and opened the door to take Moxie out of the car.

Andy opened up the back door where Matthew was currently sleeping. "Hey buddy, we're home," Andy said, gently moving him. Matthew woke up a little dazed and looked around. "Where's Moxie?" he mumbled in a sleepy voice. "Rusty took him inside the house, come on," Andy held out his hand for Matthew to take.

Matthew stepped out of the car and waited for Andy to get the chairs and cooler out of the back section. Placing the chairs alongside of the wall in the garage, Andy then took Matthew's drone box out of the car and handed it to him. "Do you think you can carry this?" he asked and Matthew nodded, more awake now. Andy closed the garage door and then walked with him towards the back door of the house.

As they stepped inside the house, Rusty was making his way towards them. "I'm going to call it a night," Rusty said to them. "Good night," Matthew told Rusty as he walked into the kitchen. "Night, kid," Andy said and stood by the door, making sure Rusty got into his apartment above the garage ok before locking up the back door.

He made his way into the kitchen and saw that Matthew had left his drone box on the kitchen table. He heard the TV turn on and walked towards the family room. He saw Matthew sitting on the couch with Moxie next to him. "I thought you were tired?" Andy said as he walked towards the couch and sat down. "Not anymore," Matthew said as he punched in a few numbers on the remote and found the right channel.

Star Wars Rebels was now on the TV and both Matthew and Andy were watching the show. "Hey, how's your thumb doing today? I didn't hear you complain about it," Andy asked him. Matthew looked at his thumb and shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't hurt me anymore," he told him and laid his head down on the nearby couch pillow and got comfortable on the couch. "Hmm, okay," Andy yawned as they watched the show.

The next thing Andy knew, some new TV show was on, Matthew was sleeping curled up on the couch, and his mouth was dry. He stood up from the couch and made his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Rubbing the back of his head to try to get the stiffness out of his neck, Andy went to the cabinet and got a glass out. He walked over to the fridge and poured himself a glass of water. He glanced at his watch to see what the time was and was surprised to see it was 3:34 in the morning.

"Crap," he muttered as he placed the glass in the sink and made his way back to the family room, turning the TV off and went to the task of waking Matthew up. "Buddy, come on time to get up," he said to him, trying to gently coax him into waking up. Matthew mumbled something incoherent and shifted positions.

Andy ran his hand through his hair and grabbed his phone off the table. He saw that he had missed a text from Sharon sent at 10:30 at night. It was too late to text her back so he figured he would text her in the morning. He turned his attention back to getting Matthew upstairs.

"Matthew, come on buddy, time to get up, you need to go to bed upstairs," Andy said and Matthew started to wake up. He slowly got off the couch and started to walk. "Come on, go with Moxie upstairs, okay?" Andy told him and he nodded as he walked with Moxie towards the stairs. Andy turned off the lights and headed up after them.

As Andy made his way into the bedroom, he noticed that Matthew went into their bed instead of his own bed and fell back asleep. Andy huffed as he looked at the scene in front of him. Matthew was sleeping and Moxie was sleeping, thankfully both on the same side of the bed. He turned to go into the bathroom and put his pajamas on.

Andy crawled into bed and made sure Matthew had a blanket covering him before he turned off the light and fell asleep.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 7

Later that morning, Andy woke up and looked at his phone. It was now 8:15. He rolled over but both Matthew and Moxie were not in his room anymore. He rubbed his eyes and picked up his phone again, sending a text to Sharon.

'Good morning sweetheart,' the text said and Andy sat up and went in search of Matthew. He didn't have to look far as he saw the boy was in his room, sleeping in his bed with the blanket from their room. Moxie was with Matthew and started wagging his tail when he saw Andy step into the hallway.

Moxie stood up and jumped down from the bed and stretched his body before he walked over to Andy. "Hey, want to go outside?" he asked the dog and Moxie got super excited and ran down the stairs. "Okay," Andy chuckled as he watched the dog fly down the stairs. He glanced back into Matthew's room and saw that Matthew was sitting up on his bed.

"Morning," he told Matthew and Matthew gave him a wave as he stretched. Andy went downstairs and followed Moxie to the back door where he was waiting to be let outside. His phone chirped along with the birds as he stood out on the back patio, watching Moxie run along the back fence. He took his phone out of his pocket and started to read the text message from Sharon.

'Hmm, good morning my love, I'm just sitting outside on our patio watching the sun filter over the rolling hills. We have a spa appointment in an hour and then we will be heading back to LA. Probably looking around a 6 o'clock arrival' and her message ended with a smiley emoji. He smiled at her message and wrote back 'Great, can't wait till you're home and I can wrap my arms around you' and he also added a smiley emoji as well before he sent it to her.

Andy looked up from his phone and saw Moxie was standing in front of him wagging his tail. "Are you all done out here?" he asked the dog and Moxie kept wagging his tail. "Ready to eat?" he asked Moxie and Moxie jumped and got excited as he followed Andy towards the back door of the house. Opening the door, Andy stepped inside and Moxie raced in and followed him to where his food was kept. Andy placed Moxie's food in his bowl and placed it down on the mat. Moxie ate his food while Andy went into the kitchen.

Matthew was sitting at the kitchen table, his hair almost standing straight up and messy. "What would you like for breakfast?" Andy asked as he looked at him. Matthew just shrugged his shoulders and continued to sit there while Andy made his way over to the coffee maker and started to make himself some coffee.

"How about some cereal?" Andy suggested but was met with another shoulder shrug from Matthew. Andy looked at the boy and shook his head. He made his way to the pantry and pulled out the cereal boxes of Lucky Charms and Honey Nut Cheerios, carrying them back to the kitchen table.

He was surprised to see Matthew carrying two bowls and spoons over to the table. Andy placed the boxes on the table while Matthew sat back down and reached for the box of Lucky Charms. Andy then went to grab the carton of milk and brought that back to the table as Matthew's bowl was overflowing with Lucky Charms.

"Whoa, I think you have enough there buddy," Andy chuckled as he sat down and joined Matthew. Matthew reached for the carton of milk and poured that into his bowl, making more cereal fall out of the bowl.

They both sat there in silence as they ate their bowls of cereal until Andy asked Matthew a question about homework. "Are you sure you have all your homework done? Because your mom is coming home later today and I don't want you rushing around at night because you forgot to do something," Andy asked him.

Matthew thought for a moment and then shook his head and continued to eat his cereal. Andy thought to himself that he would double check Matthew's homework folder after they were done eating.

Meanwhile, back in Napa, the three ladies were all ready for their spa appointments as they walked into the Mandara Spa at the hotel. "Good morning ladies, how can we help you?" the woman behind the reception desk asked them as they walked towards her.

"We have our spa appointments this morning," Andrea told her. "Certainly, what are the names?" the woman asked as she clicked on her computer screen. "Hobbs, Flynn, and Provenza," Andrea answered as Sharon and Patrice stood behind her. "Ah, yes, if you ladies would follow Karen here, she will show you where to go," the woman smiled as they followed Karen into another room.

Karen showed them to a locker room area, where they changed their clothes and into the robes that were provided to them. Then they went into another room where glasses of sparkling water were provided to them as they waited for their massages to start. Sharon couldn't wait for her massage to relax her.

Later on, that morning, back at the Flynn house, Matthew was upstairs in his room, looking through his school backpack. He pulled out his homework folder just to make sure he didn't have anything he needed to do before tomorrow. As he looked through his folder, his eyes got wide. "Oh no!" he whispered to himself.

There was an assignment that was due tomorrow but he didn't know how he was going to be able to finish it. He started to panic and worried that Andy was going to be mad at him. 'Always tell us the truth, no matter what' is what Sharon had told him long ago. He took a deep breath and brought the folder with him downstairs.

Andy was sitting in the den, working on his computer, when Matthew knocked on the door frame. "Dad?" Matthew said, not wanting to disturb Andy. "Yeah buddy?" Andy asked as he type a few words on the keyboard. "Um, I have a slight problem," Matthew told him, hoping that would help lessen the blow of missing an assignment.

Andy looked up from the computer and looked at Matthew. "What is it?" he asked him and saw Matthew take a deep breath as he held his assignment folder in his hands. Andy looked at the folder and knew it had something to do with school. "Uh, I need to make a volcano display," Matthew told him as he stood there.

"Oh, well, that's not a problem," Andy turned in his chair to face Matthew. Matthew pulled out the assignment paper from the folder which showed what the display needed to have. Andy glanced over it and nodded. "When is it due by?" he asked Matthew.

"Tomorrow," Matthew mumbled quickly as he looked at Andy. "Tomorrow?" Andy choked out as he sat back in the chair. "We could have worked on it over the weekend," Andy said, not trying to scold Matthew for not remembering his assignment. Andy saw Matthew's eyes and knew he was sorry. "Okay, not a problem, we can work on it and hopefully finish it before your mom gets home," Andy said as he stood up and tousled Matthew's hair as he walked out of the den.

"Let's get ready to go to the hardware store and get the supplies that we need for this," he told Matthew as he walked up the stairs to grab his wallet. Matthew grabbed the sheet of paper with the supplies needed and waited for Andy in the kitchen.

Andy came back down the stairs, looking around the hallway and then saw Matthew standing in the kitchen.

"Ready?" he asked Matthew as he grabbed his car keys that were on the kitchen counter. Matthew nodded and joined his dad at the back door. Andy turned and looked at Moxie. "You stay here, we'll be right back," he told Moxie as Moxie was wagging his tail. Matthew walked out of the house and Andy closed and locked the door behind them.

As Andy and Matthew made their way to the local hardware store, Sharon, Andrea, and Patrice were enjoying their relaxing spa time. The three were sitting in chairs as they got their pedicures. The pedicure technician was making small talk with Sharon as she massaged her feet, while Patrice was deciding on what color she wanted her toe nails painted.

Another girl brought in a tray of sparkling water and handed a glass to Sharon, Andrea, and Patrice, as well as other ladies who were in the spa. Sharon turned her attention to the technician as she spoke to her. "So how do you ladies all know each other?" she asked as she started painting Sharon's nails red.

"Oh, well we all know each other from work," Sharon answered as vague as she could be. "Any other plans scheduled for today or are you all heading back home?" she asked Sharon as she moved from her left foot to her right foot. "No, we are heading home today. It's been very relaxing here but I have to get home to my husband and kids," Sharon told her.

"You left your husband in charge of the kids? Hopefully the house is still standing!" the technician joked and Sharon laughed. "Oh, I'm sure everything is fine there," Sharon said as she sipped her glass of water, thinking about Andy.

About a half hour later, back in LA, Andy and Matthew arrive home from the hardware store. They bring in all the supplies they bought and cleared off the kitchen table so that they could begin to work on Matthew's project.

"Are you sure we can work on this in here? Won't Mom get mad if we get the kitchen all dirty with this stuff?" Matthew asked Andy as he pointed to the brown paint and plaster. "That's why we lay down the plastic drop cloths first, to cover everything, that way it's an easy clean-up before your mom gets home," Andy chuckled and tousled Matthew's hair.

They laid down the plastic drop cloths on the kitchen floor and the table. Matthew placed the poster board on the table as the base for the volcano. Then they both placed googles on the eyes and wore gloves. "Ready?" Andy asked him and Matthew gave him a thumbs up.

Andy started to mix the plaster with water in a bucket and when it was ready, he then started to make the base of the volcano on the poster board. "How high do you want this volcano to be?" Andy asked as they were molding the volcano. "Maybe as high as a ruler?" Matthew shrugged as he added more clay and plaster to the volcano. "It should be hollow in the middle," Andy told him as he helped with the sides.

An hour later, the volcano was built, they just need to wait till it hardened before Matthew could paint it brown. Andy glanced at the clock, and calculated in his head that they would have enough time to finish this and make sure the kitchen was clean, before Sharon came home.

"Is there anything else you might have forgotten to do for homework while we wait for this to set?" Andy asked Matthew as they took off their gloves and goggles. Matthew stood there and thought about it. Andy shook his head. "Bring me your backpack and take-home folder," he told him and Matthew ran up the stairs to get them.

Andy stood there in the kitchen and watched Matthew leave before he ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He looked over at Moxie, who was laying on the kitchen floor, wagging his tail when Andy looked at him.

He heard Matthew come barreling down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Here," Matthew said as he handed the backpack to Andy. Andy placed it on the kitchen counter and looked through it. He pulled out Matthew's math folder and saw assignments that were returned to him, all graded. He then pulled out the spelling folder and saw the same thing. He did not see Matthew's take-home folder from earlier today.

"Where's your take-home folder?" he looked up and asked Matthew. "It's in the den," Matthew stated and ran to the den to pick it up from the computer desk in there. He brought it back to Andy without saying a word. Andy looked at him and then went through the folder. "You know, we don't have to tell your mom that you forgot to do this assignment," Andy told him as he shuffled through the folder, satisfied that this was the only thing Matthew forgot to do.

"But Mom always says to tell the truth, remember?" Matthew said. Andy sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, and she's right about that, but," he started to say as he looked at him. "We don't have to tell her that you forgot to do it, we could show it to her when she gets home and tell her you had to do it for school," Andy fumbled with the wording as he packed Matthew's backpack with the folders that he took out. "That's the truth, right?" Andy asked and Matthew nodded in agreement.

Just then, Andy received a text message from Sharon. He looked on his phone and read the message. 'Heading home, can't wait to see my boys' it said. 'Miss you' Andy responded to her and looked back at Matthew. "Okay, so while we let that dry, what else can we do?" he asked him.

"Lunch?" Matthew responded as he walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door, peeking inside to see what he wanted. Andy followed him and watched him take out some leftover containers. "I don't know if that's still good," Andy opened the container that Matthew pulled out and looked it over.

The container held taco meat from the previous week. He lifted the container to his nose to smell it. "It smells okay, what do you think?" he asked Matthew who stood there watching him. "I'm game," Matthew shrugged his shoulders and Andy laughed. "It's not my fault if you get food poisoning after eating this," Andy told him as he took the container and placed it in the microwave.

"Are you going to have any?" Matthew asked as he got the rest of the ingredients to make tacos out of the refrigerator. "Uh, no, buddy," Andy stated as he peered over Matthew to see what else was inside the refrigerator. "I think I'll have a salad because I was thinking about making grilled salmon for dinner, when your mom gets home," he added.

"Can we have those cut up potatoes?" Matthew asked, moving to the counter and setting up his tacos he was making. "The ones with garlic and onions?" Andy asked for clarification. Matthew nodded his head. "Sure," Andy smiled.

After they were done eating lunch in the family room, Matthew had left his plate on the coffee table and had walked into the kitchen. Moxie took that opportunity to lick the plate clean. Andy heard the clanging of the dish and fork. Turning around, looking at Matthew who was looking over his project.

"Did you leave your plate in the family room?" Andy asked as he turned the water from the kitchen sink off. Matthew didn't say anything and quickly went into the family room. There he saw Moxie licking his plate clean. Matthew shook his head. "Did you enjoy that?" Matthew asked the dog and Moxie just kept licking his paw after cleaning the dish for him.

Matthew brought the plate and fork back into the kitchen and placed it in the sink. "Moxie licked it clean," he muttered to Andy. "Of course, he did," Andy chuckled slightly, rinsing the dish off and placing it in the dishwasher.

"I think it's dry," Matthew touched the base part of the volcano. Andy walked over to the table after wiping his hands with a towel. Looking it over, he agreed with Matthew. "Okay, next step is painting it brown," he told him.

Matthew put on his rubber gloves and reached for the paint brush while Andy opened the small can of brown paint they had bought. "Alright, take it nice and easy here, just paint the volcano brown and we can paint the base green," Andy suggested and Matthew nodded as he dipped his paint brush into the can of paint.

After Matthew was done painting the volcano brown and the base green, he waited again for it to dry. "This is taking forever," he huffed. "When do we get to cause the eruption?" he asked Andy who walked back into the kitchen. "Is the paint dry yet?" Andy asked him as he moved over to see the volcano project.

"No," Matthew watched the volcano. "Can I go play outside in the backyard?" he asked. "Sure, why don't you take Moxie out there with you and I'll put away the paints," Andy told him and Matthew ran off towards the back door. "Come on Moxie!" he yelled out to the dog. Moxie came bounding into the kitchen from where ever he was and ran out the door with Matthew into the backyard.

Just then, Andy's phone rang. It was sitting on the kitchen counter. He knew it was Provenza calling because of the ring tone that was playing. "We better not have a case," Andy answered the phone. "We don't Flynn, I was just calling to see how Matthew was doing with his thumb," Provenza told him. "See, I knew the kid turned you into a softy," Andy teased over the phone.

"Ha ha, so how's it going?" Provenza asked. "Matthew's thumb seems to be better today, it's still bruised but doesn't seem to be bothering him," Andy said as he placed the lids on the paint cans and placed the paint brushes in the sink in the mud room, figuring he would wash them later.

He took the two paint cans and walked outside to the backyard. He saw Matthew running around with a ball and Moxie chasing him, all the while still talking to Provenza over the phone. Provenza was talking about how he heard that Jamison was finally retiring from the LAPD. "Finally, I never liked that bastard," grumbled Andy as he placed the cans on the shelf in the garage. "He didn't like you either Flynn," commented Provenza as Andy stepped back outside into the yard.

"Did you want to come over?" Andy asked but Provenza declined the offer. "I need to make sure the house is clean when Patrice comes home later today," he told Andy. "You should too," he added. "I should too what?" Andy asked as he sat down on the bench that was in the yard. "You know, make sure the house is in order for when Sharon gets home," Provenza told him.

"Not a problem, we've got that covered," Andy said and Provenza laughed into the phone. "Okay Flynn, see you tomorrow then," Provenza said and hung up the phone. Andy shook his head as he placed his phone into his jean pocket. He looked up to see Matthew tumbling on the grass and Moxie licking the boys face.

A windy breeze blew by him and he turned his head. The smell of burning wood caught his attention. He shook his head. 'Who would be burning firewood at this time of day' he thought to himself. His phone rang again, alerting him to a text message. He pulled out his phone and saw Nicole had sent him a message.

'Just letting you know we got back home, Dad' she had sent and Andy replied. 'Good to hear, sweetie' he sent back to her. Nicole, Dean, and the boys went up north for the long weekend to visit one of her college roommates who was married with kids of their own.

"Do you think it's dry now?" Matthew asked, breaking Andy from his thoughts. "I don't know but let's go in and see," Andy stood up from the bench and walked towards the back door. Another windy breeze blew by both of them. "Is there a fire somewhere?" Matthew asked as he stepped back inside the house with Moxie following him. "I don't know," Andy turned, closing the door, and paused for a moment.

"Dad, I think it's dry now!" Matthew shouted in the kitchen. Andy walked into the kitchen to join him. "Okay, are we going to put up the village and people that we bought?" he asked the kid. "Oh, yes, I forgot about that," Matthew said and went to grab the bag from the store that had the pieces inside.

A few minutes passed and they were finally ready for the volcano eruption. Andy had set all of the ingredients out on the kitchen island and read the directions. "Okay, we just need a little bit of vinegar," he told Matthew. Matthew placed the baking soda, the dish soap, and the red food coloring into the bottom of his volcano. They both placed their goggles on and got ready to watch the volcano. "Are you ready?" he asked Matthew and Matthew nodded, giving him a thumbs up sign.

Andy poured the vinegar into the volcano and it erupted, all over the place. Andy and Matthew ducked onto the floor. There was red food coloring all over the kitchen walls and red soap flowing out of the volcano, down the kitchen table and onto the floor. The red soap was dripping down the plastic drop cloth that was covering the table and the floor.

Matthew stood up and looked over everything with his jaw open. "Wow Dad! That was awesome!" he said. Andy stood up and looked around the room. "Shit," he mumbled under his breath as he saw that the color red was everywhere. "How much baking soda did you put in it?" he asked Matthew as he grabbed the roll of paper towels and tried collecting the red soap that was making its way, like the red blob, from the drop cloth, across the kitchen floor.

Moxie started barking at the red blob before moving out of the way as Andy cleaned up the mess. "The whole box," Matthew shrugged his shoulders as he answered the question. Andy couldn't get mad as he looked at Matthew, covered in food coloring and tiny bits of caked on baking soda. "Your mother is going to shoot us," Andy said as he handed a paper towel to the kid to wipe his arms.

"Well, she may not shoot you, but she will definitely shoot me," Andy changed his wording from before as he saw the red food coloring had gotten all over Sharon's pictures that were hanging up on the wall by the table.

The volcano seemed to stop erupting, which then gave them a chance to clean up their mess. "Okay, we need to make sure that everything, every inch in the kitchen is clean from this mess," Andy told Matthew after he wiped the boy's goggles clean from the baking soda bits. They both got to work wiping down the kitchen walls, pictures, table, and floor.

Hours had passed and Andy looked up from slicing the potatoes to see Sharon walking into the kitchen with her suitcase and small bag. "Hmm, I'm home," she smiled and Andy smiled back, placing the knife down on the counter and pulling Sharon into a hug. He kissed her and she kissed him back. "I missed you," she heard him mumble against her lips and she smiled, pulling away to look at him.

"I missed you too," she ran her hands through his hair and down his neck. She noticed a red mark on his neck below his ear. "Why do you have a red mark there?" she asked him and he shrugged his shoulders and pulled her in for another kiss.

"What are you making?" Sharon looked at the potatoes Andy was cutting up and saw the fish being prepared in one of her large mixing bowls. "Matthew wanted those cut up potatoes tonight, plus I know they are one of your favorites," Andy winked at her and she smiled. "Oh, its good to be home," Sharon said and turned around to see Matthew coming into the kitchen.

"There's my boy, how are you?" Sharon asked Matthew as she took a look at his thumb. "I missed you, Mom," he told her as she looked over his thumb. "Oh, my sweet boy, does your thumb hurt you?" she asked him as she brushed his hair to the side. "No, not really," he told her. She turned and smiled to Andy who smiled back and then continued what he was doing with prepping the food for dinner.

Sharon walked into the family room with Matthew, who was telling her all about the weekend and what they did. "Well, I'm glad you had fun with your dad. Is all your homework done?" she asked him. "Yep, I had to make a volcano for science class and dad and I worked on it together," he said. "Oh, that sounded like fun," Sharon said. "It was," Matthew smiled.

"Do you want to see it?" he asked her and took her hand, dragging her into the dining room where it sat on the dining room table. "Wow, you did a great job on this," Sharon said, looking the volcano over and saw the little village and people that were standing at the base. "Yeah, we made it explode earlier!" Matthew told her. "Oh, you did?" Sharon cautiously asked. "Uh huh," Matthew replied. "But don't worry, Mom, we made sure to clean everything up," he smiled. "Well, I'm glad you did," Sharon told him and walked back into the kitchen.

She walked up behind Andy who was at the kitchen sink and wrapped her arms around him. She leaned in and spoke into his right ear. "So, you built a volcano and it exploded?" she said. Andy stopped what he was doing and nodded slowly. "Huh, is that why there's a red mark below your ear?" she asked him again and he nodded slowly.

"Well, I'm glad you two had fun over the weekend," Sharon said which surprised Andy. "You're not mad it went everywhere?" Andy asked her. "You cleaned it up right?" she asked. "Of course," Andy told her. "Then why would I be mad?" Sharon turned around and walked towards the hallway. Andy smiled as he watched her, then glanced at Matthew, who appeared from the dining room.

"I told Mom that we got the volcano to explode," Matthew told him. Andy walked over to where he was standing and tousled his hair. "Of course, you did," he chuckled and glanced over at the wall, making sure there was no evidence of what had happened. It was then he saw some red marks on the glass of one of the pictures. He must have missed that before when they were cleaning the wall.

Sharon walked in on Andy wiping one of her pictures with a paper towel. "What are you doing?" she asked, standing there with her hands on her hips. "Uh, nothing?" Andy stopped and looked at her, and decided to give her his charming smile at that point. Sharon walked over to him. "You missed another spot over there," she said, pointing to the wall switch, and smiled. Andy hung his head, shaking it a couple of times, and gave her a kiss before wiping the other spot.

The End


End file.
